My Secret, My Sister
by Cassie's Bedlam
Summary: Natasha Margaret 'Nate' Howard was one of Tony Stark's worse and best kept secret—everyone knew that somehow Nate Howard was connected to Tony Stark. What very few people knew was that she was his sister, his little sister and only family.
1. Chapter 1

**Hope you like this story, it's been bouncing around my mind for days. I would really like someone to do a cover image for this story.**

* * *

At seventeen, Tony had graduated from MIT at the top of his class. He hadn't been bothered that neither his parents turned up for his graduation—he didn't miss Rhodey's poor-masked look of concern when he realised that the Starks were a no show—as he had never expected them too.

Tony learnt at an early age that it was better to expect nothing from his parents, that way he wasn't disappointed.

He would admit that he was surprised when Jarvis came up to him with concern clear in his gaze as he told Tony that he was needed home. That had alarmed Tony a bit, his mind had raced for any reason that his parents would need him home.

There was a tense stillness to the air when he arrived at Stark Manor, the old butler quietly telling him that Mr and Mrs Stark were waiting in the main living room.

His mother, Maria, sat rigidly in her favourite armchair with her full painted red lips pursed tightly. Her golden brown eyes barely flickered to him when he entered before the Italian beauty continued to drill holes into the back of Howard Stark's head.

His father stood with his back to him and facing the fireplace. His shoulders were straight and tense though it seemed he was cradling something to his chest.

"Your firstborn has returned." Maria's voice could have been made of ice as she spoke making Tony flinch slightly while Howard's back became impossibly straighter.

"Maria…" Howard almost appealed to his wife in a long-suffering tone.

"No, Howard." Maria denied her husband with a sharp tone and swift words. "Tell Anthony about the foolish mistake you've made, the foolish mistake that you've decided to dump on us."

Tony frowned as Howard didn't fire back. When his parent fought, they fought with passion that showed Tony a hint of how passionate they must have once loved each other. But this, this was cold.

He looked at his mother's face, the wrinkles ceasing her caramel skin as she glared and sneered at her husband's back. Golden brown eyes were as hard as amber, coldly disappointed and darkened in angry-hurt.

With a disgusted toss of ebony hair, Maria left in a swirl of expensive cloth and perfume.

"Dad..?" The question was tentative.

"Tony." Howard let out a deep sigh before he turned to face his son.

_Oh_.

Is the first thought that enters Tony's mind as he saw just what his father was cradling stiffly yet carefully to his chest. He could understand his mother comment of firstborn now.

There was a baby in his father's arms, a girl if the pink blanket was anything to go by. Fine dark hair thickly covered the baby's head, almost the same shade of dark brown almost black that Tony shared with Howard. One tiny fist was clenched on Howard's shirt, wrinkling it of course though he didn't seem to care, and its' tiny face was relaxed in sleep.

"This is Natasha Margaret Howard." His mouth twitched when he spoke her last name—in a frown or a smile, Tony didn't know. "She is your sister."

Part of Tony wanted to laugh. Because it was obvious that despite the fact that Howard wasn't going to acknowledge that she was his daughter because of the scandal it would cause, that he still was claiming her as his daughter to at least his family because he still gave her his name. Howard.

Part of him vaguely wonders if her middle name is meant to be a tribute to Aunt Peggy, Tony thought that Howard should have made her middle name Maria or something like that to appeal to his angered wife. But Tony knew it wouldn't appease his mother, she would have hated it—but he bet she hated it more that Howard had named his daughter after Aunt Peggy, an old flame, Tony had gathered from stories about WW2.

Another part of him burnt with resentment. Because this baby was proof that Howard cheated on Maria—his father had cheated on his mother! Logically, Tony knew that his parents' marriages wasn't ideal and perhaps they would have divorced if it wouldn't have caused a scandal or because they remembered half-forgotten love they held for each other, Tony naively hoped. And perhaps Tony suspected that neither of his parents had been faithful to each other for a long time. But he had never thought it would be confirmed, especially with a sibling—a sister.

"No one is to know." Howard continued. "It's best if only we know that she's my daughter, to keep her protected."

_My daughter. Protected._

The resentment was a burning ball in his lower abdomen as his fists clenched closed. Had Howard cared about Tony's protection when he was that small? If he did, why had Tony been able to be kidnapped twice as a kid?

Did Howard have subconscious pride and care in his tone when he spoke of Tony—when he called him 'my son'? Did he even call him that?

"I'll need you to look after her, Tony." Howard finished and Tony wanted to shout out 'fuck no!'

But Howard was already striding towards him, holding out the baby toward him like Tony wanted to hold it. He would sooner have a holiday in hell than hold that thing.

But somehow, Tony ended up cradling the tiny thing in his awkward arms.

Soft pale pink eyelids fluttered open because of the movement, disgruntled dark eyes focused and stared up at him.

Tony knew he winced as he expected it to let out a shrill scream, and yet it doesn't. It gurgled almost happily as it stared up at him with wide dark eyes—so much like Dad's eyes, he half-thinks, like his own eyes, just without the flecks of gold—and she smiled.

A wide and happy smile that showed all of her dark pink gums and light pink tongue with little spit-bubbles.

The ball of resentment popped like a balloon as something warm and tingly settled in his chest as he stared down at her tiny smiling little face with wide eyes.

He isn't aware of the proud and happy smile that briefly curls Howard's lips as he stared at his two children, a smile that made him seem years younger, before Howard softly padded out of the room.

Tony barely felt himself walk to an armchair and settle in it, he awkwardly moves her so he can hold her with one arm—she stares up at him with almost serene patience that Tony knew for a fact he never had and most likely never have—and let her curl her tiny soft fists around the fingers of his newly freed hand.

"Hey Nattie," because Tony would never call her Natasha, "I'm Tony." He swallowed almost thickly as his throat seemed to close tightly for some reason. "I'm your brother."

Perhaps Tony could understand why his Dad wanted to protect this little girl, because Tony wanted the same thing.

* * *

Tony decided that Nattie was for him to look after and took her everywhere with him—after getting Jarvis to buy him a baby carrier and such for her. He set up a little cot for her in his workroom for when she needed to nap—he knew he grinned madly when she easily slept through the noise of his tools when he was inventing things—and the fridge held bottles filled with her formula mixed with cans of his coke-a-cola and such.

His mother always sneered when she saw Nattie happily strapped to Tony's chest, he knew she had been counting on Tony hating her too and saw his love for the girl as a betrayal.

He had threw together a small mobile made of bits and bobs he found in dotting around in his workshop, that shinnied brilliantly when the lights hit them right and could capture Nattie's attention easily.

He foresaw him buying lots of shiny things for her in the future if her love for them continued, which given her level of fascination seemed likely.

When he brings Dum-E home from Dad's workshop almost a year after he first held her and three months after her 1st birthday, Nattie and Dum-E seemed to fall in love with each other and spent their time playing with each other. Dum-E happily dangling toys for Nattie to giggle over and reach for, he would follow after Nattie as she wandered around the workshop, removing anything she shouldn't be handling from her grasp.

That hadn't been the thought in his mind when he built Dum-E, but it sparked an idea.

Before Jarvis had been looking after Nattie because Tony didn't trust anyone else with his little sister, but he knew Jarvis was getting too old to chase after an energy-filled toddler.

Tony knew he couldn't trust any other human to look after and raise Nattie—he had disliked his nannies, especially because one had kidnapped him—but that didn't mean he couldn't build someone to look after her.

* * *

August brings the birth of Nanny. A robot specially built to look after Nattie when he couldn't be able to and help raise her, she's the first A.I that he created that could speak. He knew she looked more like a maid than a nanny but Nattie liked the silver, white and black bot.

Dum-E still played with Nattie though under the sharp watch of Nanny, who was always ready to scoop her tired charge up or tell off Dum-E when she thought he was too rough.

Nanny had a horrible of habit of poking Tony into eating whenever she thought he needed to eat, lecturing him in her feminine robotic voice if he ignored the plate of food too long for her liking.


	2. Chapter 2

Jarvis dies before Nattie turned three, and her cries when she can't find her Jay breaks his grieving heart. That's when he starts to build an A.I Jarvis he would build in all their homes so she'll—they'll—never have lose Jarvis again.

When Jarvis' soothing British tone first talks to Nattie after Tony finished installing him into his computer and hooking him up to cameras, speakers and mics that he puts almost everywhere in his workshop/Nattie's playroom, his bedroom and Nattie's as well as their shared hallway, Tony's heart feelings like it's going to burst with the beaming smile that takes over her chubby face before she rushed around hugging Dum-E, Nanny, Tony's legs and finally the walls—saying simply that she was hugging Jay when Tony, completely bemused, asked her why she was trying to hug the wall.

Tony didn't miss the almost embarrassed tone that Jarvis used when he thanks 'young Miss Nattie'.

Though he's later annoyed when Jarvis and Nanny team-up to make sure he eats, but it is something that the old Jarvis did with Nanny so he only half-heartily tried to ignore them.

* * *

It's only December 16th 1991 that Tony realised how Nattie's family consisted only of Tony, Dum-E, Nanny and Jarvis.

It's the day he got the call that his parents have been killed in a car accident, the day he crouched down to where Nattie's playing with a Circuit board and tells her that Howard Stark, their father, is dead.

It's the day when Nattie looked at him confused, and questions him on who 'Dad' was, and Tony felt a chill go down his spine when he realised that Howard had completely left Nattie in his care and Tony didn't notice that he was never around for them.

Tony felt strange when he had to use a picture so Nattie knows who Dad was, and had to explain that he wasn't coming back like Jarvis. She's not bothered by this as she never knew this 'Dad' person anyway.

Howard may have not been around much when Tony was a kid, but Tony still knew he was his father. Nattie didn't have that though, Nattie had only been surrounded by robots and Tony for all four years of her life.

She hadn't even met Rhodey though Tony isn't sure able telling his best friend—only human friend—about Nattie as Tony had never had to share Nattie before and isn't comfortable with telling him. Not now at least.

* * *

It's the next day after Tony had signed the paperwork to make him CEO, shaken too many hands and had too many bulbs flashing in his face before he tries to leave only for Obie to, horribly jokingly, ask who was waiting at home for him.

Tony went still as he stared at Obie, only half-aware of the winces on the members of press and broad of directors' faces, and realised that dear old Dad had never told one of his oldest friends about Nattie.

He could see the moment when Obie realised what he had just asked the newly orphaned man, see the apologises on his lips, and cuts him off with a cocky—fake—smirk and a 'special girl' for the answer. It was the start of his playboy antics that would be spread across the tabloids for years to come.

While Tony may trust Obie, he didn't trust anyone enough to share Nattie with them. It would be years down the road that Tony would be thankful with that decision, because he hated to think what Obie would have done if he knew that Nattie was his sister and how close Tony really was to her.

* * *

For Christmas, Tony built Nattie a robot dog, basing the size and shape off a Yorkshire terrier, and says it's called Howie. He tries to ignore that part that tells him that a dog will never make up for Howard, her father, being in her life.

He kept focus on the happy laughter when the small dog-bot does the tricks that Nattie commands him too.

* * *

Logically Tony knew that Nattie would have to go to school despite the fact that Nattie was a genius like their father and himself. Logically Tony knew that he didn't have the time to teach Nattie everything himself, logically knew that Nanny couldn't teach Nattie things that she would need, and logically knew that Nattie needed to learn how to interact with people.

Logic had no effect on the panic at the thought caused.

So perhaps Tony over-reacted because of that.

He set up his own school under the Maria Stark Foundation, used that foundation to give money to other schools so not to bring attention to the Stark Institute that he was going to enrol Nattie into.

It was only when he was completely secure with the security of the Institute before he enrolled Nattie into it, hiring a driver/bodyguard to drive her to and from school.

* * *

Tony did not mope when Nattie went to school the first time, he didn't constantly ask Jarvis for the time, he didn't throw a ball for Howie to chase just to shut up the constant whining, he didn't watch as Nanny swirled around the house picking up stray toys and dusting, and he most certainly didn't watch Dum-E sadly hold Nattie's favourite teddy before fleeing to his office at Stark Industries.

He was completely focused on his paperwork, on the accounts for Stark Industries especially.

The spitfire red head that stormed into his office later that day, waving around his completed accounts' paperwork as she ranted about the mistake he made and with his bodyguard clutching their eyes in pain behind her, pepper spray in her free hand kind have pointed out that he hadn't been focused at all.

He ended up telling Nattie about his new PA over the Spaghetti Bolognese that Nanny cooked them later that night, making the six year old laugh at the thought of her big brother scared of a raging red head.

* * *

Tony moves them to Malibu after Jarvis informs him of some reporter trying to follow Nattie's car in the morning. He buys a plot of land on the coast with access to its own beach, and hires people to build the house of his dreams while setting up another Stark Industries building in California.

The new house has better security, Jarvis' eyes and ears built in everywhere so nothing could happen in the house without him knowing.

All of Nattie's rooms were connected and locked against strangers—it was easier for Nanny to move around the house. There was a secret garage that is built especially for Nattie to be able to easily leave and come from the house without reporters knowing.

Nattie announced after it's finished and they can move in that it looks like something out of an alien movie.


	3. Chapter 3

Pepper had been Tony's PA for four years when she appears at her Malibu house one lunch time and finds a preteen dancing to Iron Maiden in the living room with a robot dog tight to her heels.

Though most things had stopped surprising her since she began working for Tony as his PA, but that sight definitely did.

Paperwork slipped from nerveless fingers when the preteen spotted her and stared at her with familiar dark eyes as dark curls messily fell around her golden tanned face.

For a brief moment they stood in silence, Jarvis having paused the music, before the girl let out a shriek of;

"NANNY!"

The sight of a maid-styled robot rolling out of the kitchen while waving a duster with a clear threat and shouting a war-cry was too much for Pepper's poor mind.

Pale green eyes rolled into the back of her head as her body slumped and hit the floor with a heavy thud.

* * *

"Oh my god, I didn't mean to kill her Tony, I swear!" A panicked high voice squeaked as the fog began to clear from Pepper's head though she kept her eyes closed.

"You didn't kill her." The calm voice of her boss replied. "She just fainted."

"I thought she was your PA?" The first voice lowered and was coloured with surprise. "How could seeing me cause her to faint?"

"I think it was Nanny's threat with the duster that did her in." Tony replied drily before a robotic female voice spoke a soft and chided apologies.

Pepper cracked open her eyes to see the girl from before peering down at her from behind the back of the white long couch that Tony must have laid her on, worry was clear on the girl's face and in her dark eyes as she peered anxiously into Pepper's eyes, the robot dog was cradled in her arms and the maid-style robot was peering over her shoulder with luminous blue eyes.

Up close, Pepper could see the diamond studs piercing her ears and the simple diamond white gold locket. Pieces of jewellery that Pepper had assumed were for Tony's newest girlfriend when she saw them in his office.

Tony stood on Pepper's other side, an amused smirk curling his lips with his hands tucked deeply in his pockets. But Pepper could see the worry in his dark eyes—not as strong as the girl's but still there.

"Good afternoon, Sleepy Beauty." Tony smirked down at her.

"What…?" Pepper couldn't bring her gaze from the girl's familiar dark eyes.

"Pepper this is Nattie," He gestured with one hand. "Nattie this is Pepper."

"Hi." Nattie piped up with a smile.

"Hey…" Pepper replied softly before she glanced back at Tony. "Is she…?"

"My sister?" Tony finished with raised eyebrows. "Why yes she is."

Pepper had been going to say daughter, but he had answered her question so she wasn't going to correct him. Though by the knowing light in his dark eyes made her think he knew and was amused by her thought.

"Right." She repeated that word a few times as she calmed herself before informing Tony of the paperwork he need to sign.

"Nanny, I'm sure my special girl should have her lunch." Tony spoke to the maid-robot that nodded her head before prodding Nattie towards the kitchen.

Something clicked in her mind when Tony said that, over the years Tony had mentioned to the press of a special girl waiting for him. Pepper, like the tabloids and everyone else, thought he meant a lover. He really meant his sister, which made Pepper reassess him in her mind as she watched him flick through the paperwork.

She had thought Tony was completely selfish and arrogant, thought he was the reckless spender and playboy that the tabloids painted him as. She was wrong. He obviously cared for his sister, the way he spoke to her had affection dripping from each word, though Pepper wondered why she was kept secret.

There had been no whispers that that Stark family had another child, never been any rumours of hidden daughter/sister. And yet, Pepper had seen her—seen her dance comfortably in torn jean shorts and a washed-out band t-shirt—and had heard her speak so comfortably with Tony.

When she surfaced from her thoughts she found Tony fixing her with an intense look—it was like he was reading her mind.

She hoped she made it clear that she wasn't going to blab about Nattie, and he must have seen it because he gave her a tight nod before pulling a pen from his pocket and sitting down to sign the paperwork.

* * *

Pepper spent the turn of the century in the Stark Mansion with Nattie while Tony was off at some party with Happy. The fourteen-year-old girl had complained that they didn't really start the 21st century until next year because than the numbers added up right and it was really the last year of 20th century, but had quieted down when the fireworks started.

In the four years of knowing Nattie, she could see how similar and different the siblings were in both looks and thinking.

Nattie's dark eyes were a deep dark chocolate brown while Tony's were slightly lighter with flecks of gold. There was natural golden highlights running through her curly brown hair while Tony's hair was completely brown, messy and looked like he never brushed it sometimes. Tony's skin was almost olive-toned while Nattie's was golden with a tan.

Both were genii, both could talk for hours and remembered everything, but Nattie was free with her emotions and words while Tony wore a mask of cockiness and calculated each of his words. Tony was bitter towards his father while Nattie only knew him as a picture and felt nothing for him.

Tony's mind was a whirlwind mathematic problems and concepts of new designs—only a few of those concepts were for new weapons. He invented things, brilliant things that made Pepper's head spin, and played with and built designs as an outlet for his energy—his brilliance.

Nattie was different than Tony, she could and had proven that she could keep up with his half-formed ideas and designs, and could build things on the same scale as Tony. But she didn't have the same interest in those things as Tony did, didn't have the same innate need to build things or take things apart to find out how things worked. Science wasn't her passion that was all Tony's.

Her passion was in art. She could draw and paint in such detail that it seemed like a photograph, sculpted dainty and beautiful things, and could paint complex geometric patterns that only Tony could make sense of.

Art kept her genius mind busy, could keep it focused on one thing instead of ninety different things, and she used it to express emotion and thoughts—an outlet for her energy. She could also loose herself in books, could put their words into images and paint them.

Her hobby, that Pepper totally blamed Tony for, was hacking. It was a hobby that she mostly shared with Jarvis as Tony was always getting Jarvis to hack into things. A.I ended up teaching Nattie a few tricks.

There was something the siblings shared. Their distrust for all governments, Tony kept an ear out for things through Jarvis while Nattie regularly hacked in government secure systems to keep an eye on this. Nattie could speed read through various reports in minutes, her mind able to pick up all the little detail—Pepper was half sure that Tony could do the same if he could focus all his mind on something.

That was something that Nattie regularly did, focus her whole mind on one thing while Tony let his ran wild.

Nattie was also patient while Tony was not, he had to keep moving while Nattie could focus all her mind inwards and remain completely still for hours. Jarvis had once timed that her to see how long, she had stayed still for three hours and only moved when she needed to go toilet.

Tony could be childish while Nattie could be strangely mature, but their roles could swap in an instant when left alone.

Tony loved attention, loved to party, but also loved to hole himself up. Nattie was more at home with robots than humans, didn't care about attention and didn't like the thought of going to the parties that Tony seemed to like. Like Tony, she also liked to hole herself up, listen to her music loud much like he did, and while he invented, she painted.


	4. Chapter 4

2006 was the year that the Hulk was unleashed on the world and the hunt for him began.

Twenty-year-old Nattie watched the destruction he brought from Malibu while fitting fake-fur onto Howie so he looked more like a real dog.

She told Jarvis and Nanny absently that it was obviously not his fault such destruction was happening, and that the military was making a mess of things again.

She doesn't know Dr Bruce Banner, had only heard of him when Tony raved about his papers, and as such doesn't think too deeply of his pain. Though she would later tell Tony that Banner had breath-taking anger issues.

She would put him out of her mind and not think of him for quite a few years from now.

* * *

Peggy Carter could remember when she first met Nattie, Tony had brought Peggy back to the manor after Howard and Maria's funeral to introduce Nattie to her.

Peggy could remember the four-year-old girl clinging to Tony's smart trousers, peering at her with familiar dark curious brown eyes.

"Aunt Peggy, this is Nattie." Tony was almost uncomfortable as he introduced them, placing one hand on the top of the girl's curly head. "She's—"

"I know who she is." Peggy cut him off.

How could Peggy mistake those brown eyes? Howard's eyes staring out of an unfamiliar face, a young girl's face with the same shine of intelligences that had been in Howard's eyes and shone brightly in Tony's.

She knew there was a reason that Howard had hidden his daughter, and knew Tony was going to continue to hide Nattie—if only to protect the girl.

She crouched down like she had a million times for Tony and her own children, ignoring the groan of her old bones, and smiled at the young girl.

"You have beautiful eyes." Peggy told her.

"They're like Tony's eyes." Nattie informed her in a matter-a-fact tone, one arm clutching a teddy to her chest as she watched the older female.

She glanced up with dark eyes towards Tony in time to catch an unreadable look passing over his face.

It had been very telling that Nattie had said Tony's eyes instead of Dad's eyes. Part of her wondered what Howard had done, or not done for Nattie.

Peggy kept in touch with Nattie and Tony, visited them and had them visit her, and knew that apart from Tony, Peggy was basically the only other human in Nattie's life.

She had been hopeful that when Nattie started school she would make friends, but like Tony before her, she flew through school and didn't connect to others her own age.

Peggy's glad that she had met Nattie before her mind started to fail her, glad that she could remember different parts of Nattie's life as she grew up and never felt the disturbing confusion when someone that knew her greeted her while she didn't know them.

She was also glad that Nattie had Howard's eyes, Peggy would never forget Howard's eyes.

20th May 2010 was a date that Peggy would never forget, and she would never forget the look on Nattie's face.

* * *

Peggy was sat in the day room, letting the quiet chatter of the others who lived in the retirement home wash over her, when there was a clamour from the hallway.

"You can't go in there like that!"

"Slow down!"

"You're going to hurt someone!"

The shouts of the nurses drew everyone's attention to the doors of the day room just before they burst open.

"Nattie..?" Peggy gasped out as she took in the sight of her.

Nattie stood in the doorway with her arms spread out to keep the doors open, her chest heaving with choked gasps, with her long dark hair stuck to her pale face and her shoulders. She must have been wearing one of Tony's t-shirt because it was slipping down from her shoulder and was far too big for her slim and petite frame.

Her face was unnaturally pale with a broken almost dead look painted on it, her pert nose was red and her dark eyes were wide and bloodshot with deep bruises, and her clothes were soaked and sticking to her. A pool of rain water was starting to form around her old sneakers.

She stumbled forward, almost tripping over her feet and torn hem of her jeans, ignoring the nurses following after her or the concerned gaze of the other residents.

Nattie dropped to her knees in front of Peggy, burying her face in her lap making Peggy's fingers automatically run through her tangled wet dark hair.

"Nattie, what's wrong?" Peggy asked, heart almost beating out of her chest.

"Tony." Nattie sobbed into her lap. "He's been kidnapped."

And that would be the last thing Nattie would remember doing for some time.

Peggy felt the blood drain from her face before she hunched almost protectively over the younger woman.

She didn't tell Nattie meaningless things to try to make her feel better, she just pressed her lips to her head and held her. Peggy had never lied to Nattie before, and she wasn't going to start now.

* * *

Almost three months pass with Nattie staying with Peggy, no Howie in sight which surprised and concerned Peggy to no end as she knew that Nattie took that dog-bot everywhere, and it was like a ghost was walking through the halls. Peggy was worried about her, she doubted that Nattie slept much.

She kept mostly to the day room, playing the piano whenever she wasn't drawing furiously in her sketchbooks.

Peggy recognised the behaviour, Tony did the same thing when things became too much for him. He would withdraw into himself and go into a daze where he spent all his time building things or designing things.

Nattie was doing the same.

Peggy knew all the residents were worried about her as well. They adored Nattie from all the visits that Nattie did through the years, they loved when she would play the piano for them—especially when she played their favourites from their youth.

They tried to bring her out by asking the questions from some of the daytime quiz shows that they watched. Though she would absently answer the question correctly, she didn't look up from her sketchbooks for even a moment.

* * *

August 19th 2010.

Pepper had come for Nattie, and she had brought Howie. The moment the red head placed the bot down, he was racing off towards his person at high speed.

Peggy let out a sigh of relief when a single nudge from Howie did what she and the others had been trying to do for almost three months—wake Nattie up from her daze.

"Howie…?" Nattie's voice was slightly rough from disuse as she looked at her dog in confusion.

"Nate." Relief was clear in Pepper's tone when she entered the room making Nattie's dark head jerk up in surprise.

"Pepper?" The look of Nattie's face was almost adorably confused in Peggy's opinion. "What…?"

"You need to come home." Pepper told her firmly. "Or do you want Tony to come home to an empty house?"

"Tony's coming home?" The question is asked in a painfully hopeful voice and Peggy can almost see the shy four-year-old that she first meet instead of the twenty-four-year-old woman that Nattie was now.

"Yes." A happy and relieved smile was beaming on Pepper's face.

And Peggy almost sobbed in relief that Tony was alright, that he was alive.


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, I would like to know if anyone has any thoughts on who they would like Nate paired with, and I would love feedback on my twist and design of Nate's own suit.**

* * *

The tension in his chest had nothing to do with the Arc Reactor, his missing ribs, or the pressure of the Arc on his lungs, and Tony didn't know how to get rid it.

So of course it went away the moment he saw her when he got off the plane.

Nattie's hair had obviously just been brushed quickly before it was thrown up in a ponytail, letting the light shine off the six diamonds in her ears. Her face was paler than he had ever seen it, and deep dark bruises surrounded her dark eyes. She seemed thinner than he last remembered, her shoulders were hunched in a way that made her seem smaller.

She was wearing one of her oldest and most ripped jeans, her faded and scuffed black sneakers, one of his old and faded t-shirts that had been permanently stained with grease and oil under one of his dark hoodies.

She looked terrible, and yet Tony thought Nattie looked beautiful after not seeing her for three months.

It was cliché how they met in the middle for a hug, but Tony didn't care as he wrapped his good arm around Nattie's slim waist while her small hands clutched his back. He could feel her hot tears hit the base of his neck and he just rested his head on hers.

"Don't ever do that again." She whispered harshly into his neck, long slim fingers digging further into his back.

"Okay." He muttered into her hair, pressing a fleeting kiss. "I want a burger, do you want one?"

And Nattie laughed.

* * *

Natasha Margaret 'Nate' Howard was one of Tony Stark's worse and best kept secret—everyone knew that somehow Nate Howard was connected to Tony Stark. Whenever Tony wasn't in a worthless fling or short romances, she was always seen on his arm at any charity events or such since she was the age twelve.

Her appearance had put the tabloids in a rage with pictures of young twelve-year-old Nate Howard on the arm of twenty-nine-year-old Tony Stark.

The pictures showed the pretty young peaches-and-cream-toned girl with her dark hair curled down her back, the light of the flashes showing golden highlights in her dark hair, and wide dark eyes dressed in a dark red party dress that matched the tie that billionaire wore.

The tabloids had a field-day trying to prove or disprove the fact that Nate Howard was Tony's daughter. Stark Industries were bombarded with emails and other mail asking about Nate, Virginia 'Pepper' Potts had to assumable a press conference with Tony to make a statement.

The tabloids the next day shouted out 'Tony Stark takes in genius orphan!' It continued on with saying how one of the schools he funded with the Maria Stark Foundation notified him of a rising genius. To help her reach her full potential, Tony Stark generously sponsored the young girl personally.

That of course caused more fury as most believed that Tony only did it to be seen doing something good after a particularly nasty article about his weapons promoting war and how he was war profiting.

Throughout the years, the world had gotten used to seeing Nate on the arm of Tony at different events. So none of the reporters were surprised when Tony Stark entered the first press conference after his disastrous trip to Afghanistan with Nate pressed to his side—both of them holding burgers in their hands for some odd reason.

It was clear that Tony's disappearance had a horrible effect on Nate—some of the less scrupled tabloid reporters thought about spinning in how the grateful orphan fall in love with the older man that helped her into their stories, and how his disappearance brought her love to light.

They watched bemused as both Tony and Nate folded themselves down and sat before they did it themselves for Tony.

The announcement that Tony spoke made the thoughts of those with less scruples scatter like leaves in a sudden gust of wind.

A weapons company that stopped making weapons?

As the room burst into a flurry of noise and Obadiah dragged Tony away, after trying to desperately take back Tony's statement, Nate Howard remained sitting—watching them with patient dark eyes—as she ate her burger.

Her serene patience caught the attention of Agent Phil Coulson—it seemed that Tony wasn't the only sibling that caught the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D.

* * *

"Stark Industries! I've got one recommendation! Ready? Ready? Sell, sell, sell! Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells? Let me show you the new Stark Industries—"

The live broadcast was cut off by a sudden dark screen with text in white saying;

'I'm such a loser and was bullied as a kid, and that's why I try to make everyone's life as crap as mine was to make me feel better!'

Pepper spun on her heel and glared at Nate, who was sitting on the couch with her laptop.

"Nate!" Pepper reprimanded making the younger woman look up with an innocent look on her face that didn't fool Pepper for one second. "Stop that."

"Oh sorry," Nate spoke with false sincerity and a fake look of astonishment as she looked at where her hands were resting on her keyboard, "my hands sometimes have a mind of their own."

She tapped away on her keyboard for a moment, replacing the text with a new message briefly;

'This honest statement was brought to you by Valkyrie'

Before the live broadcast was put back on, only for the man to be cursing up a storm on live TV which made Nate smirk broadly.

Pepper thought Nate had never looked more like Tony than in that moment.

* * *

Pepper was ever so grateful that Nate didn't panic like she did, because honestly Pepper wasn't sure if she could have put the new reactor in by herself.

Pepper was so consumed with calming herself down that she didn't notice that sharp and swift exchange of words the siblings had when Tony confirmed Nate's worried suspicion about what powered the reactor.

Palladium could eventually poison him—Nate hated the thought of her brother possibly dying.

* * *

Nate absently held up a sign for '2' when Tony finished coughing after Dum-E stopped dousing him after he fell from his first attempt to fly.

"Ha-ha." Tony snarled as he glared up at his sister. "You're so funny."

"When you've worked out the kinks you're making me one, right?" Nate asked as she added more shade to her design of her future suit.

Tony's design was rather simple for him, while Nate wanted to make her username of Valkyrie into her name for her suit. That meant she wanted mechanical wings and a separate weapon—like a scythe.

She had complete faith that Tony could build it, and knew no one would connect Valkyrie to Nate Howard. One, only few people knew who Valkyrie was though the world was used to her hacking into things to defend Stark Industries—Tony. And two, Nate had never been one to draw attention to herself so why would she have such an indiscreet and attention-grabbing suit?

"Why would I make you one?" Tony pushed himself back onto his feet. "You're not helping with this one."

She looked up at him, a vaguely amused look on her face.

"I'm sorry." False sincerity ringing from her tone. "Do you need my help?"

"No." Tony almost pouted. "I'm fine."

Tony had built his first suit in a cave, he could work out how to make a better suit without Nattie's help.

Nate wasn't offended, she knew it was his pride was talking. Plus, she really had no interest in building things like he did.

* * *

Nate didn't even look up when Pepper walked in with two bottles of water and a parcel, she knew that the red-head was here for Tony so kept bobbing to the music from her Stark-Player (made especially for her by Tony).

"I've been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, everything's…what?" Tony started to reply before he realised what Pepper said.

"Obadiah's upstairs."

"Great!"

Yeah, great. Nate thought as she pulled a face, she hadn't liked Obadiah at all when she met him. He was cold, arrogant, condescending, and scornful whenever he caught Nate alone when at an event. He talked to her like she was a gold-digger, had done so even when she was twelve.

Nate wasn't at all into incest and the thought that a twelve-year-old could try and seduce Tony was disgusting and laughable.

"What would you like me to tell him?" Pepper asked after tossing one bottle to Nate, who fumbled as she caught it.

Hand-eye coordination was her best thing, Nate could admit easily.

"Great, I'll be right up."

Pepper eyed the stabiliser attached to Tony's arm with slight distain.

"Okay." She paused before she continued pointedly. "I thought you were done making weapons."

"This is a flight stabiliser. It's completely harmless." Of course when he activated it, it launched him across the room. "I didn't expect that."

Dum-E held up Nate's discarded sign marked with 2 making Tony glare and huff.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I have a poll on my profile for the three people I'm thinking of pairing with Nate. Please vote. **

* * *

Nate winced as Tony crushed through her piano, the floor and then landed on one of his beloved cars. Peering down at him, she couldn't stop the laugh that burst through her lips when she saw Dum-E spraying Tony with his fire extinguisher.

"Have a nice trip?" She asked with a grin.

A groan was all her answer.

* * *

Tony wasn't that surprised to see Nattie dressed up in one of her floor-length dress—long enough to hide the old sneakers that she constantly wore—with her dark hair straightened down her back and basic make-up. Jarvis must have told her about Tony's plan.

"You know you've taken me to the Disney Hall more times than you ever have taken me to Disneyland." Nattie said almost pointedly as she pointed to the suit she had thrown over the couch for him.

"I've never taken you to Disneyland." Tony said as he began to put on his suit on.

"Exactly."

"Smart-ass."

"You're making my suit as well, right?"

"Sure, honey."

"That doesn't reassure me at all."

"Jarvis is working on making it to your design—very discreet by the way—while he makes and paints mine."

* * *

"Miss Howard?"

Nate turned away from watching Tony and Pepper dance almost awkwardly and took in the man with brown hair with receding hair-line and very government style black suit.

"Yes..?" She raised her eyebrows in question to him.

"Agent Phil Coulson from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." He responded almost completely monotone.

"So, S.H.I.E.L.D?" Nate asked with a quirk of her mouth.

Agent Coulson's eyebrow twitched before he gave a short nod.

"Sure, we'll go with that."

"Is there something I can help you with?" Nate asked as her gaze moved back to her brother and his PA.

They were so oblivious about their feelings it was almost cute, but mostly frustrating. They needed to get together already, she had gotten tired of watching them dance around each other.

"I would like you to convince your brother to actually turn up to our meeting."

She looked at him with what she hoped was a completely blank face.

"Haven't you heard that I'm an orphan, Mister Agent?"

"What's in the tabloids isn't always true as you well know Miss Howard."

Nate could feel her face tighten as she glared at the Agent, her patience was wearing thin for once.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She span to make her way to the bar for another glass of water when Coulson grabbed her arm.

"Howard Stark helped start the division." He spoke quietly as she looked at him. "And I must say, from the photographs, it looks like you have your father's eyes."

She kept her breathing even as she threw a few panicked glances around—no one was looking at them, their attention either captured by their own self-importance or by Pepper and Tony moving outside.

From the way they were walking it seemed that Nate had missed something important. Damn Agent.

"Tony doesn't like the government, and frankly neither do I." She pulled her arm from his grasp, a fake smile plastered on her face when she noticed people glancing at her before she left the Agent.

* * *

Tony's suit was simple really. It added height and bulk to his frame, mostly to protect him from attacks and for all his little extra weapons to have a place. His main weapons were his repulsers, Unibeam, Lasers, smart mini-guns and missiles. His suit motors gave him superhuman reflexes, and he also armour system with Jarvis, and superhuman strength. His colour scheme was beautiful hot rod red and gold.

Nattie's also added height and bulk to her frame—which was really needed as her petite height didn't really make anyone cower—but she added more armour to her shoulders and arms so it looked like she was wearing gauntlets and such. Her gauntlets could break apart and form a basic, short and strong sword, while the added space in her shoulders held a collapsible polearm in her left shoulder while the right held smart mini-guns. She had chosen black with highlights of electric blue that matched the blue that lit up her viewer and her personal arc reactor that powered her suit that instead of her chest was settled around her waist like a belt buckle.

Tony's suit obviously was masculine while Nattie's was obviously feminine. Tony's helmet was smaller and more close-fitting than Nattie's—he had taken in the fact that she wouldn't cut her hair for no reason and most likely throw it up into a bun so gave her more room in her helmet.

Tony had said no to the wings, saying they were too much—which was rich coming from him.

* * *

Tony was only partly aware of what looked like Nattie's Valkyrie suit shooting up to distract the other plane while he headed towards the falling pilot.

He had been sure that Nattie hadn't been aware of him leaving, had been certain that he was on his own when he took his little trip, and yet here she was while he was saving the life of the pilot that hit him with his plane. He bet Jarvis told her.

* * *

"Sir, there's another one. It looks like a woman, and she's giving a peace-sign."

Rhodey wanted to groan. Of course Nate was with Tony, Tony would kill anyone that hurt or attempted to hurt Nate.

"DON'T SHOOT HER!"

* * *

Tony had the absent thought that sometimes he was too nice just as he helped the shoot deploy for the panicked pilot.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Was the first thing that Tony said when Nattie and he connected through Jarvis.

"Making sure you don't get yourself killed or kidnapped." Was Nattie's swift reply.

"You are too young to be doing this!"

"I'm twenty-four! I'm not a kid!"

"You're going to get yourself killed!"

"So are you than!"

They kept a steady stream of banter as they flew home, both knowing that neither of them would stop using their suits. Tony wouldn't stop trying to make the world better for Yinsen, and Nattie wouldn't stop following him to make sure he came back alive.

* * *

"Tony…?" Nate's voice trailed off as she took in the scene in front of her.

Tony, pale and so very still on the couch, staring at her with wide horrified dark eyes—arc reactor missing from his chest. Obadiah standing there calmly with a plastic case in hand.

She was so focused on Tony, so struck by horror that she didn't see the blow coming from the black plastic case before darkness took over and she fell with a thud.

Dark long hair streaked with the same red as his suit fluttered as she fell like a puppet with its strings cut. Her face was lax as she landed on the floor, blood began to seep from the side of her head and pool.

And something inside of him screamed.

* * *

Blood, so much blood. That's the image that surfaced in Tony's mind when he ordered Pepper to press the button.

Nattie. Dark hair sticking to her face, a face so pale and lax.

He hadn't even checked on her. He just left her laying in a growing pool of her blood, left her life and safety in Nanny and Rhodey's hands, and left to fight Obie.

Tony hoped that she was going to be fine, hoped that he was going to live through this stunt, because he didn't want those to be the last memories he had of her and didn't want her last memory to him so pale and dying without his reactor.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: So far Steve Rodgers is winning the poll.**

* * *

Nick Fury had made it his business to know exactly what Howard Stark's offspring did—though when he first started keeping an eye out, it was only for the known and acknowledged son, Tony. It would only be later when the first photos of Nate Howard on the arm of Tony Stark that he realised that Howard had another child.

A daughter he had kept hidden from everyone, and who his son was still keeping hidden and protecting her from everyone.

The official story had all the proper paper-trails needed for reporters sniffing around for dirt to be happy with. But Nick was a spy, and his partner had been Timothy 'Dum-Dum' Dugan, who had been a long-time friend of Howard Stark's.

Natasha 'Nate' Howard had Howard Stark's eyes. The same shape and deep dark brown colour. Tony Stark hadn't fully inherited his father's eyes, there was flecks of golden from Maria Stark's eyes mixed into the dark brown. But Nate had had an exact copy of Howard's eyes.

Her face had vague traces of Howard and Tony, though Nick was certain that she inherited most of her looks from whoever her mother was. Her pert small nose certainly didn't come from the Stark men though she shared the shape of their lips—the few photos of her smirking made her look like more like the Stark men, he was almost disappointed though not surprised that none of the so-called observant reporters had recognised that smirk.

Though he kept an eye on her, she didn't really hold his interest like her older brother did. Her genius seemed to be in her art-work that was shown in galleries around the world, though she was finished with school by the time she turned fourteen—unlike her brother, she didn't go to any college—and that was impressive.

It was Tony that had inherited Howard's vision, had carried on the weapon legacy that Howard left behind.

The turn of the century brought his attention back to her though, because that was when she began hacking into secure government systems and began doing a secret online defence of Stark Industries—though Nick suspected that it was only because Tony—under the name of Valkyrie.

That sparked his interest.

When he got images of both Nate Howard and Tony Stark's robotic suits from their little stunt out east—well it seemed that Tony wasn't the only sibling that he was going to invite into the Avengers programme.

Nick really should have known that Stark was going to pull 'I am Ironman.'

He also had to admit that his A.I system was impressive and he was having trouble hacking into it. He wasn't too involved to miss Nate Howard walking across the road towards him with a Yorkshire terrier tight to her heels.

It seemed that her dog-bot had been upgraded again—this time to look like a real dog.

He rolled down his window before she knocked on it and evenly looked at her while she levelled a totally unimpressed look at him.

The bandages that hid the stitches along the right side of her head stood out starkly against her choppily-cut short dark hair.

"Please stop trying to hack Jarvis." Her words were polite, her tone was annoyed. "If you want to enter someone's house, than its best not to assault a member of their family trying to get in."

"It's an A.I." He deadpanned.

"He's still family." She shot back.

He pursed his lips but closed his laptop which made her give him a pleased smile.

"Thank you."

He could tell the smile was mostly fake.

"Can I come in?" He asked, she tilted her head and considering.

"Fine, saves you breaking in." She finally said before she turned on her heel towards her home.

Nick was close behind her.

"Nanny, we have a guest." Nate called when they entered the house.

Nick watched as a maid-styled bot rolled into the living room.

"Nanny, this is Colonel Fury." Nate introduced as she flopped down on the couch with Howie curled up next to her. "Colonel, this is Nanny."

Nick shot Nate with an assessing look, she had done her research well—he was impressed.

"Welcome Colonel." Nanny greeted. "Would you like a drink?"

"No thank you." He answered.

"I'll get you a drink Miss Nattie." Nanny said after she nodded in response to Nick's answer, before spinning back to the kitchen.

"You can take a seat." Nate said. "It's tiring watching you stand."

Nick took a seat with a smirk. That sounded like Stark.

They watched each other silently for a moment before Nanny came, gave Nate a glass of orange-juice and back to the kitchen after informing Nate that she would be making a lasagne for dinner.

"You've done your research." Nick commented.

She gave him a smile, a glint of calculation cooling her dark eyes.

"You run a secret government division that's interested in recruited my brother into a merry-group of superheroes." She told him. "Of course I did my research."

"And I want to recruit you."

That didn't seem to bother her.

"I can count the number of humans I care about on one hand with fingers left over." She informed him. "I'm not a hero, I could watch the world burn happily as long as they stayed safe."

"The world burning would harm them. You would fight for them." Nick returned. "You don't have to be a hero, all you have to do is fight for them."

"I don't like secrets." Nate took a sip of her juice. "Your division is filled with them. I would be constantly digging through your mainframe to find those secrets."

"I know." He said simply. "You'll remember all of what you will read, and if the mainframe is ever destroyed than you'll be able write it all out."

"You may overestimate my memory."

"I'm not though."

They watched each other for a few beats of silence.

"Your brother has had a change of heart, he'll fight for this world." Nick said. "And that means you'll follow him into battle. He'll fight to keep this world safe, and you will fight to keep him safe."

She nodded her head in agreement.

"You'll need to back off him, strong arming him will not work." Nate told him, making him tilt his head in agreement.

"If you join S.H.I.E.L.D, we'll back off for now."

They had come to an understanding.


	8. Chapter 8

"I told you." Nate pointed out grimly as they studied the toxicity level in his blood.

"I know." Tony almost sighed.

The Palladium was beginning to kill him, but it was the only thing keeping him alive.

"We need to find a new element." Nate told him simply.

"Sounds easy." Tony grimaced.

"I'll look through Stark Industries old records." Nate informed him. "Perhaps Howard started something that could help."

"We're turning to Dad to help?"

"Sure."

"You remember he's dead."

"And he could have the key somewhere that keeps you from joining him."

"Sure, honey."

* * *

"You got hit by a firework, didn't you?" Nate asked him when he came back stage.

"Were you the only one that saw that?" He asked as he checked the level of toxic in his blood.

"You're ego better hope so." Nate said drily before taking the Stark Medical Scanner from him. "We still have time."

"The cores keeps burning out." He pointed out as he grabbed a bottle of water.

"As long as they don't start failing completely." Nate said before grabbing her own bottle and taking a long pull of water.

"What did you think about my speech?" He asked.

"I think if I didn't know you better, I would say you're completely arrogant." She told him bluntly.

"I thought I was being quite modest really." Tony said. "I didn't say come out and say that it was because of me."

"No, you just heavily implied it." She paused for a moment and gave him a long look. "And really, you had to go with a phoenix metaphor."

"I thought it was fitting." He smirked.

"Of course you did." Nate sighed. "I think I may have found something."

"Really? What is it?" He asked absently.

"I found some plans and designs on a database, it seems that the Arc Reactor wasn't completely finished." She told him as she slipped the scanner into her jeans pocket.

"What database?" He asked with suspicion.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." She answered simply. "Look at it, please."

He looked at the concerned face of his sister, took in the bags that she had hidden with make-up and how pale she had become.

He knew that Nattie had been hacking into every database looking for things, reading through old projects that Howard never finished and hadn't been sleeping much.

"Okay."

* * *

Senator Stern was an asshole. And Justin Hammer was a pathetic bastard.

While Hammer unplugged one of the screens, Nate hacked the other one. Valkyrie was making a play.

_Senator Stern wants the suit because Hammer can't make him one. _

_Ironman has been the nuclear deterrent for the past year—other countries are years away from making a full suit at the same level._

_Hammer is a whiny bitch that can't build anything like that._

Nate would admit that she channelled Tony with the last message, she ignored the stern look that Pepper levelled her while grinning at Tony's thumbs-up.

* * *

"Let's have a round." Nate smiled at 'Natalie' who agreed with a nod.

Tony's eyebrow raised, he had never seen that sickly sweet smile on his sister's face. He was sure that the coming fight would be interesting.

Happy's ego must be bruising as Nate was holding her own against Natalie more than he did.

Nate knew that Natalie allowed her to pin the older woman, but frankly Nate didn't care.

"You hurt him, and I'll destroy you." Nate whispered harshly before Natalie flipped her on the back, knocking the breath out of her.

"Okay." Natalie gave a smile before leaving the ring, Nate just laid back in the ring.

Romanoff better not hurt Tony.

* * *

Valkyrie bashed Rhodes' War Machine's head and Tony's Ironman together.

"This is meant to be a birthday party." She told them sternly. "Not a cage-match."

"Both of you need to grow up." She shook them, before letting them go.

Rhodes flew off swiftly, leaving her with Tony.

"There could have been an easier way Tony." She told him flatly.

She hated that Tony was slowly giving up, she hated that Rhodes had betrayed her brother. She hated everyone that was bad-mouthing him these days, she hated that Ivan person for attacking him.

* * *

S.H.I.E.L.D did some good, Nate thought as she helped Tony go through Howard's old stuff. They were also good, keeping this from her.

Though she wished she could have found this earlier, than Tony wouldn't have ended up getting as bashed as he was in the news.

She glanced up at Tony's face as Howard talked to him through the old film. He looked half bitter, a part grieving, and part longing—there was even some fondness in his dark eyes.

Nate had never known Howard as a father, so she didn't feel anything about seeing him talking on film after twenty years of his death. Tony knew him though, and he had a bad relationship with him. Feelings were being stirred, feelings that Tony didn't like.

"Told you he may have had something." She tells him, ignoring the look on his face.

* * *

Nate had one thing to do while Tony broke out—he hated being cooped up against his will—and that was keep Coulson busy.

She did that easily, by hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D in front of him.

The flat and unimpressed look that he kept shooting her as he tried to keep her out of the 'secure' database was amusing at least.

Officially Nate was an agent of S.H.I.E.D with a clearance level of eight. Unofficially, and known only to Fury, she was clearance level ten like him. She was the back-up database of S.H.I.E.D after all.

Despite him hiring her to use against Tony—mostly so he would join in Tony's words 'his secret boy band'—Fury had also hired her solely for her mind to act as a back-up database in-case the database was ever compromised or deleted for some reason. She also kept the real secret stuff that Fury didn't put on the database locked-up in her head.

Mostly for her minds ability of remembering everything she has ever seen since the age of three. It gave her terrible headaches sometimes while Tony self-medicated his constantly whirling mind with alcohol so he could get some sleep when his mind was too loud, Nate carried around painkillers—recommended to her by a proper doctor—to pop when the pain became too much.

Both siblings had their own way of dealing with their own genius when it played up. Neither way could be considered healthy in the long run.

Tony was basically an alcoholic—sometimes having to drink till he passed out to get any sleep at all, other times he worked till his body gave out. Nate could pop strong painkillers like candy—which may class her as a drug addict—and sometimes went into a daze and painted or something till she passed out some time when her emotions were especially high—like when Tony had his unplanned trip out east.

They were screwed up certainly, but they functioned well—mostly well, sometimes well. They functioned at least.

Anyway, she had a purpose for hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D that had nothing to do with annoying Coulson. The drawing of the Cube in Howard's notebook interested her, and she wanted to know everything about it. Especially if it had something to do with helping to save Tony.

* * *

Tesseract. The first thought that passed through Nate's mind is that she preferred the simple name of cube. Who the hell had called it the Tesseract?

It seemed to be an object with unlimited energy—energy that had been harnessed to create weapons for the Nazi sub-group Hydra in WW2.

Weapons that Howard Stark had to combat, though from the reports it seemed that it was really Captain America—Steve Rodgers—that combatted against them.

It went down off the coast of Greenland with the Captain on 4th July 1945—a horrible birthday for the good captain.

Three days later, Howard Stark found it when he was looking for Steve Rogers—the ship's, Valkyrie, crash site wasn't located though.

It seemed that all Howard did was study it, but Nate wouldn't be surprised if S.H.I.E.L.D began to produce weapons like Hydra did later on.

From Howard's studies came the idea and composite of the new element that would save Tony.

The repeated mentions of Steve Rodgers intrigued her—she remember some old Captain America themed toys and such stuffed away in the back of Tony's closet in the Manor.

The mentions of him made her curious, so really she couldn't be blamed for looking him up and hacking into everything that held any mention of him.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Just wondering about peoples thoughts on keeping Tony paired with Pepper or not.**

* * *

Tony froze at the sight of suitcases sitting innocently on the living room floor like they had any reason for being there, he recognised one as being the condensed case form of Valkyrie.

"What…?"

"I'm moving out." Nattie told him as she came in, Howie close to her heels, and placing a small carry-case on top the pile.

"Why?"

They had always been together, had been since the first time Tony held Nattie in his arms when she was tiny and helpless. They had always lived in the same house, always.

"You're going to move in Pepper now that you're finally together." Nattie told, dark eyes watching him steadily as she perched on one of her suitcases. "You're going to be horribly loving and sappy together as you get used to your new relationship."

"That doesn't mean you have to move out." He protested.

"I'm twenty-five Tony." She said simply. "I can't keep relying on big brother for the rest of my life."

He looked at her, his face blanking though his eyes dark with hurt. She sighed and moved to hug him tightly.

"It's not like I'm going to be across the world, I'm only moving to New York." She whispered into his shoulder as his arms hugged her tightly.

"You're vid-calling me every night." He told her. "So you don't forget my handsome face."

"How could I ever do something like that?" She laughed, both ignoring the slight wet sound it had as tears burnt at dark eyes.

"Keep Howie with you."

"Don't upset Nanny."

"She should really go with you, I have Jarvis, Dum-E, Butterfingers and U. How are you going to eat?"

"How will you eat?"

"She'll cry if you don't take her."

"Then you'll have to build something to replace her here, because we can't have that."

"You should keep a weapon on you at all times."

"Really?"

"New York is very dangerous."

"Worse than LA?"

"Much worse."

"You're being silly."

"I know, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do what I say."

"Okay."

"Okay, that's it?"

"Okay, I'll keep a weapon on me at all times."

They were being silly. They were acting like they would never see each other again when they both knew that Tony would be building something in New York just so he could keep a close eye on her. Probably before his birthday too.

* * *

The apartment that S.H.I.E.L.D kindly set her up in was smaller than anything she was used too, but big enough for Nanny to happily move around.

It was an open plan warehouse apartment with wide windows made of bullet proof glass, she was half-sure that the walls had steel in them since Fury assured her that nothing could touch her here—she also half-thought he had spent too much time with Tony for him to be that protective.

There was four different locks on the steel door—one was a key-pad code that she had removed all sound from and was keeping her code close to her chest. The other locks were more normal key-locks.

Nanny had long been adapted to go upstairs—repulsers weren't just Tony's thing after all—so Nate didn't have to worry about keeping her bedroom and the rest of the upstairs tidy.

Nate had decided to furnish it herself after looking at the provided furnishing—part of her was amused about watching some of Fury's agents moving all the furnishings out.

She had a small glass dining table that could seat four if she needed to, but was mostly for two people. A black couch was one of the biggest things she bought.

It was leather and extremely comfortable, letting her sink deep into the seats. A gaudy Ironman blanket—which of course was from Tony—was thrown over the back.

There was a glass and black metal desk tucked under the stairs with her computer set-up—thin glass screen were bolted to the wall about the desk while the main—and largest—screen sat on the desk. The key broad had been keyed to her fingertips only, her files were behind firewalls and other defences that Tony had created—she had yet been able to find some that could hack into it, she could only do it because she knew the back-door because she watched Tony write the coding—and her storage-disks were rigged to explode if someone tried to forcefully remove them, for the tower to work it had to be connected to one of Tony's old reactors and her tower put virus' on any USB that wasn't hers.

A bit of an over kill? Possibly, but she was now working with S.H.I.E.L.D and had access to everything on their servers. She was taking the protection of any data that she had on her computer, Fury had approved greatly when he popped by to visit her.

She had designed a small metal ball—that she hid among other balls in vases with fake flowers in—that disabled any bug in her apartment. That got Fury to trust her a little bit, enough to start her on the hunt to find evidence that his suspicions may have some base in them—S.H.I.E.L.D had to have been stupid to let Hydra scientists work in the newly found division.

She bought a collection of dog toys for Howie—despite being a bot, he still loved chew toys like any other dog—and put them in their own special basket next to the couch.

A thin screen TV was bolted to the wall across from the couch with a small coffee table placed in front of the couch—perfect for her to place her feet on when she lazily watched TV and for her to place her drinks on the glass surface.

Various pieces of art work—what she had painted or drawn herself—was fixed on the wall where shelves of books and orchids—her favourite flower—weren't bolted into the wall.

She kept one corner of her apartment for her art that held her easels, paints, canvas, a stacker filled with pens, pencils, sketchbooks, clay and brushes, and a simple wood table—the only furniture wood in the apartment—that was stained by paint, clay and loads of other art things.

The upstairs held her bedroom—simple double metal bed, mirror-door wardrobes, secret spaces build into the walls and furniture for all sorts of weapons (there really was steel in the walls), a special safe for her to keep her Valkyrie suit in—bathroom, a spare bedroom, a workshop for maintenance for both Howie and Nanny, and a hidden panic room.

Paranoid? Yes, but she wasn't going to be taking any chances now she was working for S.H.I.E.L.D.

"What do you think Nanny?" Nate asked with her arms spread out wide as she span around in her own apartment.

"It's sparsely furnished." Nanny almost complained as she made her way to the slink kitchen that was filled with glass and chrome, peering into the fridge that had been filled with all sorts of food things waiting for Nanny to make into lovely meals. "The kitchen is nice."

"We don't need much." Nate said as she moved to flop on the couch. "Tony never had much furniture either."

"His very presence made up for it." Nanny replied drily as she began to throw together a meal for her.

Howie jumped up, rough and fake tongue briefly licked her hand, before he settled down for a nap—power down really.

Nate could remember the days when Nanny had been stocky and boxy, she was now slim, slink and totally modern, she was also taller—waist almost level with her counters—though she still had a maid-style to her.

"Are you saying his big ego filled the room?" Nate asked with a grin.

"Of course not, Miss Nattie." Nanny denied easily. "I would never say anything like that against Mister Tony."

* * *

The first night she spent half of it tossing and turning before padding down stairs and sleeping on the couch with Tony's blanket wrapped around her after watching Nanny's powered down form, the glow of the arc reactor that Tony put in her chest as her new power source was reassuring.

It reminded her of Tony.

It was the first night in a place that didn't have touches of Tony's presence, first home without Jarvis keeping an eye over her, and first home that she knew that Tony wasn't going to come home too after he finished with his meetings/events/latest Ironman mission.

But she knew that she had to do this, it was time to grow up and stop relying on Tony to take care of her for the rest of their lives.

* * *

"Tony Stark has announced that he is building a new tower in Manhattan, New York. It'll be the first building that will run itself. Stark says it's the first step with his new green energy programme."

Nate scooped another spoonful of sugary cereal in her mouth as she watched Tony wave to the reporters before he began to answer questions about his new tower.

She hadn't even been gone a month and he was already making his plans to move.

"I think Mister Tony misses you." Nanny said as she placed a glass of orange juice on of one the coasters that Nanny had insisted Nate buy.

"Yeah, I can see that." Nate said before she had another scoop of cereal into her mouth. "He didn't even tell me."

"Perhaps he thought he would surprise you." Nanny said before she fluttered off to clean something.

Nate was sure she had the cleanest apartment in New York, she could see herself in the tiled kitchen floor—almost.

* * *

There was a Christmas tree in her apartment, a honest god real Christmas tree, one that she knew for a fact wasn't there when she left this morning to pick up some illustration work to do—it was a hobby more than a job.

It was only half-decorated, and Tony was frozen in mid-motion and looking at her like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have while she stood in the doorway just looking at the tree that was dominating her apartment and the boxes placed on her coffee table.

"You're back early." Tony almost accused her when she finally finished entering her apartment and shutting the door with a snap of her locks.

"Only a few authors want drawn front-covers." She told him slowly as she eyed the Christmas tree. "Photographed front-covers seem to be on the rise."

She recognised the decorations that hung from the fir tree's branches. She and Tony had made them, she was three when Nanny had reminded Tony that every child need a proper Christmas. It would be her first proper Christmas and the first one she would ever remember.

She could remember the look of total confusion that had marred her than-twenty-year-old brother's face as he stared at the robot before it clicked and he gave her an almost horror-struck look, swinging her up in his arms, and away from where she was playing with Dum-E, rumbling about how he had forgotten Christmas, how could he forget Christmas for three years?

_You'll have the best Christmas ever, I promise._

She remembered him promising her that and she would say he kept his promise.

He ordered a small fir tree to be placed in their workshop/playroom, and when it arrived he decided that they were going to make their own Christmas decorations—she honestly believed that he got the idea off a movie.

It was the first time she ever did anything like art, before that she was playing with Dum-E and playing with odds and bobs that were around Tony's workshop, and she was hooked.

They painted Christmas patterns on simple metal discs before hanging them with a bent paper-clip through a hole that Tony drilled in them on to the tree, they made paper-chains—breaking almost as many as they made. They made jingling, almost wind chime, decorations made of bolts, screws and nuts, and Tony built a glowing star for the top.

They used long sheets of blank paper for wrapping paper after drawing and painting on them. Tony gave her a diamond necklace—the first of many—while she had made Nanny help her knit a scarf after seeing it on TV—it was misshaped as hell with holes in the red wool, but Tony had wrapped it around his neck immediately, declaring that he loved it, and she knew he still had it. Nanny was given a maid-lace-hat thing that she still wore—she had tenderly taken care of it, learning to sew with her once big and clumsy fingers so she fix it after it tore, it still perched on top of her round head today—and Nate had given Dum-E his very first blender after not knowing what to give him and taking it from the kitchen so he wasn't left out with the gift giving. Tony declared that they would give Jarvis an update for his present because what can you give you're A.I house for Christmas?

Nanny made them a turkey dinner, where they discovered neither of them liked turkey, but ended up having mac and cheese for Christmas dinner.

It had been the first and best Christmas that Nate ever had, before Howard died and Tony had to go and do Christmas events because he was CEO, when it was only Tony and Nattie in their own little world.

She moved over to one of the boxes and peered inside to see all the bits they had used to make the decorations when she was three before turning to Tony with a question on her face.

"The trees bigger than the one we've had before." He ran an almost sheepish hand through his messy hair. "I thought we could make more."

She smiled, a beaming smile that reminded Tony of the beaming toddler that would hug his legs, and nodded.

Twenty-two years had passed, they were both adults now and could be considered superheroes because of their suits, it wasn't the Stark Manor, but they still settled on the fluffy rug under both the couch and coffee table and began to make more Christmas decorations.

Some things never changed in the end.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: And Steve Rodgers, Captain America, has won the poll on who Nate ends up with. Everyone can tell how Tony's going to react to that, right? I'm putting a new poll up for Tony this time, who should he end up with? Pepper still or someone else?**

**And to my few reviewers; Iuwan, a fan, AwarenaTenshi, Alexia, Dead Hero, Triszh15, Aerhyce, and ThoseEvilDucks. Thank you for the lovely reviews =]**

* * *

They spent the rest of the day decorating the tree, fixing flashing fairy-lights around it, before spending the evening laying on the couch watching Christmas movies like they were going out of style.

Nate had laid her head on Tony's chest, feeling the hard metal of his reactor under her cheek and hearing it hum with life. It had been a habit of hers since she was a child whenever she had been upset or had a nightmare she would ask Tony to pick her up or crawl into his bed and rest her head on his chest so she could listen to his heart.

When Tony had first come home after Afghanistan and she had crawled into his bed that night, she had seen the hidden dread and fear behind his blank mask when she saw the reactor, its glowing blue light shining brightly, and she had felt the relief relax his frame when she simply placed her head carefully on the reactor—because it was placed exactly where she had always rested her head—and closed her eyes against the blue glare.

It was while they were watching movies that Tony announced that he was spending Christmas with her and Pepper was popping over on Christmas-eve—she was spending the rest of Christmas with her family like normal.

* * *

The 3rd April, Nate's twenty-sixth birthday, was spent in Vegas with Tony. It was also the first, and last, birthday where Nate got smashed. Unlike Tony, she didn't like alcohol so she was unsure what possessed her to drink so much that she woke up groaning the next day in the bathtub of their hotel room with no memory of getting there.

She was just thankful that she didn't wake up married like Tony once had when he was twenty-two.

* * *

Nate had decided to have a lazy Sunday on the 15th April. She hadn't changed out of her Ironman pyjamas—a Christmas gift from Tony, in return she gave him a Valkyrie t-shirt (Tony was unbearably smug that he had a higher following than her and thus more themed things, she honestly didn't care though)—and had be digging into some chocolate chip pancakes that Nanny made while watching early morning cartoons—you can never be too old for cartoons, especially Scooby-Doo—when her computer pinged.

Nate placed her only half-eaten plate down on her coffee table, only after spearing another piece into her mouth, before grabbing one of the mini-screens on the coffee table to see what her computer thought was so important that it interrupted her lazy Sunday morning.

_Hydra bomber plane Valkyrie has been found. Captain. S. G. Rogers was still on broad. The captain seems to be still alive. Bringing him back to New York, S.H.I.E.L.D for defrosting._

Her jaw dropped.

"Miss Nattie please finishing eating your mouthful." Nanny chided as she placed a glass of milk on a coaster in front of Nate.

Automatically she did as she was told, years of Nanny chiding her, punishing her when she tried to be a brat (like Tony), and telling her what to do had programmed her to do as Nanny told her, no matter what state she was in.

"Fuck me." Nate breathed after she swallowed.

"Language!" Nanny's sharp order made her wince slightly before she leaped over the back of her couch and bounded towards the stairs, Howie yipping at her heels.

"Call Aunt Peggy!" Nate called as she ran up the metal stairs, the cold metal stinging her bare feet. "Tell her that the Captain's finally coming home, and he's alive."

"What about your breakfast?" Nanny called after her, though Nate was sure she was also calling Aunt Peggy like she asked.

"Haven't got time!" She shouted back as she struggled to get dressed in a pair of clean jeans and a band t-shirt quickly, hopping slightly as she reached for her hair brush. "Got to get to Fury before Coulson!"

Like hell she was letting Coulson land the Captain just because he was a fan-boy of the highest degree when it came to Captain America. The Captain owed her Aunt a date, and god damn it, he was going to have that bloody dance with her.

(As she thought about that thought later, she realised just how Aunt Peggy had influenced her swearing. She sounded like a Brit.)

* * *

S.H.I.E.L.D, despite being a secret government intelligence division, was filled with people with their quirks—often childish at that—so they were all aware of Agent Barton's love of crawling around the vents and popping out to scare the shit out of any one, they were all aware of Agent Romanoff's obsession with guns—there was a running bet of theories of where she kept them all—and they were all aware of Agent Coulson's love—obsession—with Captain America.

They were also aware of the craziness that was Agent Howard, who they were all aware was like a niece of the retired Agent Peggy Carter, so none was that surprised with what happened the morning of the 15th April when word got out that Captain America wasn't only just coming home, but was in fact alive despite spending seventy years under the ice.

"Howie! Attack!"

The robot Yorkshire terrier did as he was ordered and knocked Coulson off his feet letting his lithe owner race pass the fallen Agent and towards Fury's office.

Coulson grunted before whipping out his Taser and shot the young woman in the flesh part of her right leg. She let out a long, and loud, string of curses as her leg gave out under the shock of electricity.

Coulson pushed himself to his feet after dropping his favourite Taser and raced towards Fury's office.

He had forgotten Howie, who was enraged that the Agent had taken down his owner, and was reminded painfully when the dog once again took the Agent off his feet before metal teeth—painted to look like normal teeth of course—pierced his leg without mercy.

While that happened, Nate had ripped the darts out of her leg none to gently—leading to blood beginning to weep from the two small wounds of her leg and staining her grey jeans—and had pushed herself to her feet.

She moved as quickly as she could while she was partially dragging her right leg, confident that Howie would keep Coulson down this time, and towards Fury's door.

* * *

Fury's eyebrow raised when a limping Howard slammed open his door, able to see and hear Coulson behind her cursing and struggling to remove his leg from her robot dog, and noticed the blood staining the right leg of her jeans.

"Yes?" He asked smoothly.

"Captain Rodgers." Howard gasped out as she limped more in, one hand running through her short and messily brushed dark—though still streaked with Ironman red—hair uselessly. "I want him."

"You're channelling your brother." He said drily though he knew what she meant.

He hadn't seen her lose her well-held serene patience or masked casualness before. It was an interesting sight, almost as interesting as Coulson crawling towards his door while determinedly ignoring the robot gnawing on his leg.

"I want to be his handler." Howard bit out before her trembling right leg finally gave out, again, hitting the floor of his office with a groan.

He casually stood and peered down at the young woman sprawled on his floor—jeans stained with blood, t-shirt rising slightly up her toned stomach—hours of training had removed the softness that her petite frame held before—shoulder-length dark curly hair messy and tangled around her face, chest heaving with pained gasps as she pressed a hand to her wounded leg, and dark eyes—Howard Stark's eyes—glaring up at him with all the strength and bullheadedness of her father and brother before her.

"Okay."

Coulson cursed painfully while Howard gave a tired and pained cheer.

"Now get to a damn medic." He levelled a one-eyed glare on both them. "Both of you fuckin' idiots."


	11. Chapter 11

Fury had to call for Tasha and another agent to help Coulson and her to the medics.

Tasha had a small smirk on her face when she came and saw Nate sprawled on the floor—Natasha had been one of her trainers and they had gotten close despite the little threat when she was working for Tony, because they were both called Natasha, she was Nate and Tasha was Tasha, always.

"You know the footage of you and Coulson racing to Fury's office is being sent to everyone." Tasha said as she hulled Nate up, arming a slender arm around Nate's waist while Nate's arm slipped around her shoulder.

"I thought it would." Nate winced when she put too much weight on her right leg. "Howie, you can let go now."

Obediently, Howie did. Nate smiled at her dog brightly, ignoring the traces of Coulson's blood on his muzzle as she praised him.

"Evil damn thing." Coulson grunted as he was hulled up to his feet by the random male agent.

"You're just a sore loser." Nate shot back at him as they began to make their slow way to the medics.

"You cheated with that damn thing." Coulson argued.

"You shot me in the leg with a Taser." Nate pointed out as they exchanged glares.

"Only after you set that thing on me." Coulson snapped.

"Howie's not a thing! He's my robot dog!" Nate defended.

Tasha had withhold a sigh. Whenever Nate and Coulson got together, they always brought out the other's childish side. They had been like that since Nate had distracted Coulson so Tony could sneak out last year. This thing between them was only going to get worse now Nate landed being the handler of Captain America.

* * *

There was no lasting damage to either of them though both would be limping for a while. They had been given one cutch to help them around for at least the rest of the day, and both had spent most of their time in the medical bay glaring at each other.

Nate was able to leave first as the doctors thought a few of the bite marks on Coulson's leg may need stitches.

Just before she left the medical bay, she stuck her tongue out at Coulson, making him scowl at her, and limped away.

She had to get things ready for the Captain after all.

* * *

Steve slid into the black SUV after Fury after he calmed down slightly.

Seventy years. How could seventy years have passed? Where was Peggy? Howard? Were they dead? Gone like_ his _New York?

Fury had said it was Time Square, but that wasn't how he remembered it. All that colour on giant TVs built on to the tall rising buildings, all the noise, cars and people.

The people really were different. Dames had been walking around in trousers or in tiny skirts that showed almost all of their legs, men was sloppily dressed in baggy trousers and such. And their hair, all the different colours and styles.

It was so strange.

Part of him expected his lungs to seize up in a panic-attack, part of him still hadn't gotten used his completely healthy body even after three years—or seventy-three years now, wasn't it?

"You'll get used to it." Fury attempted to reassure him, though Steve couldn't understand how he could get used to this. "Your handler will help you."

"Handler?" Steve questioned.

Fury pulled a plastic screen out of his pocket, tapped it a moment which made it light up before handing it to Steve, who held it awkwardly as he peered down at it.

A picture of a dame stared back at him with familiar dark eyes. She was pretty; a small pert nose, slim lips tilted up in a smile, arched dark eyebrows and high-cheekbones. Her skin was a golden colour from the sun, and she had dark curly hair that framed her face with random streaks of bright red running through it. Part of her hair was tucked behind one ear, showing off three diamond studs in her ear.

"That's Agent Howard." Fury informed. "She's going to be looking after you and help you settle in to the new century. She'll help catch up with the last seventy years."

"Her eyes." Steve muttered as he stared down at the screen. "They're familiar."

Fury smirked before telling him that he was holding a phone in his hand, which lead to Fury explaining about how phones had changed over the years on their way back to S.H.I.E.L.D.

* * *

Steve easily spotted Agent Howard, who was seated calmly in the waiting room of S.H.I.E.L.D, her hair was easily recognisable.

Her hair was scrapped back into a ponytail, she wore dark jeans with a white blouse—the blouse unbuttoned enough to show a hit of a black vest underneath—sneakers and a blazer. The diamonds sparkled from her ears in the light. The Yorkshire terrier was lying next to her sneakers calmly, and a leather bag was on the other side of her feet.

"Howard." Fury greeted as they walked over to the young woman.

"Fury." She greeted as she glanced up from where she was sketching in a sketch book, before turning to look at Steve. "What a dreamboat Captain." She smirked as his cheeks flush.

"Channelling your brother again." Fury commented before handing her a twenty.

"I told you, he would freak out." Agent Howard said as she took the twenty and pocketed it. "You shouldn't bet against a genius."

"You're socially inept." Fury told her.

"Am not." She argued as she put her sketch book away.

"Should be with how you were brought up." Fury said shortly making Steve confused. "I'll leave Captain Rodgers in your hands."

With that said, he turned on his heel and left them.

"It's nice to meet you, Captain Rodgers." Agent Howard said as she stood up and held her slender long-fingered hand.

She was tiny. That was the first thought that crossed Steve's mind as he looked down at her, she barely came up to his biceps. She had about the same height, perhaps a bit shorter, as his had been pre-serum.

"It's nice to meet you, Agent Howard." Steve shook her hand strongly with his larger hand.

"Call me Nate." Agent Howard—Nate—told him. "I don't do the whole last name thing."

"Please call me Steve than, Nate." Steve told her making her smile at him.

"Now that's settled, let's go." She said as she grabbed her bag before beginning to wall to the doors, Steve and the Yorkshire terrier quick to follow her.

"Where are we going?" He asked her as he reached her stride, making her glance at him.

"You have a date." She reminded him. "You've kept Aunt Peggy waiting long enough."

He almost stumbled in shock. Aunt Peggy? As in his Peggy? Peggy, Peggy was still alive.

"She's still alive?" He breathed.

"Still alive at the ripe old age of ninety-five." Nate informed him.

He breathed deeply and gave her a small smile, she eyed him carefully for a moment.

"She's had a full and happy life, Steve." She reassured him before slipping into the back of a dark car with him following her.

* * *

It was late afternoon when they arrived in Massachusetts. Nate made him change into his old military uniformed, that was in perfect condition, before leading him to the day room of the retirement home that was Peggy's home.

It was empty apart from one elderly woman, and Steve stilled when he met her eyes.

Familiar dark eyes stared out of a familiar face, a face that had been lined with age but was still recognisable. Her hair was longer than he remembered, a foreign silver instead of familiar rich brown. She was dressed in a black skirt suit with black low heels, her stand as confident as ever.

Different, yet familiar.

But she was Peggy and she was still beautiful.

"You're late." Peggy said and he smiled an almost tearful smile at the familiar words.

"I'm sorry." Steve told her honestly, barely aware of Nate moving further into the room and towards the piano in the back of the room.

"You're here now." Peggy reassured him as she held out a slender aged hand which he took gently in his strong one.

The strong but somehow gentle notes of a slow song began to play, and Peggy lead him into the dance he had promised her only a day or so ago for him, but seventy years ago for her.

They lost themselves in the dance and music that Nate played beautifully for them.

Seventy years had passed in a day, everyone had grown old without him and the world was so strange now, but as Steve danced carefully with Peggy in his arms to Nate's music, he thought he may adjust—with their help any way.


	12. Chapter 12

"She reminds me of you sometimes." Peggy's voice brought Steve's attention away from the young woman playing the piano, despite the fact they had stopped dancing a while ago, and made Steve look at her in question. "Her courage, despite her small frame," her lips twitched in a smile that Steve returned, "and her honesty. The way she can lose herself while drawing."

"Her eyes, they're familiar." Steve confessed to Peggy, knowing somehow she would know why and tell him.

A fond smile curled her lips as she watched how Nate swayed while she played.

"I'll tell you so you're not surprised later on." Peggy told him. "She's Howard's little girl."

Steve looked back at Nate in shock, wondering how he didn't realise those were Howard's eyes staring at him.

"Is she married?" Steve asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

"God no, Nattie's never been in a relationship before in her life." Peggy laughingly replied before catching Steve's confused look. "Officially Howard Stark only had one child with his wife, a son named Tony Stark. Tony came home after finishing college to be introduced to his half-sister, Natasha Howard."

"Howard cheated on his wife?" Steve asked in shock.

"Howard changed over the years." Peggy told him simply. "Drowned himself in his work when he wasn't searching for you, he didn't spent a lot of time with his wife and son. I know for a fact he spent no time with Nattie."

"How?" He asked.

"I first met Nattie when she was four after Howard and his wife's funeral." Peggy told him, dark eyes slightly unfocused as she remembered. "Tony was so uncomfortable trying to say who she was, he didn't need to of course. Her eyes are just like Howard's after all.

I told her that she had beautiful eyes, and she replied they were like Tony's. She didn't say they're like Dad's and I don't think I've ever heard her call Howard Dad. Tony was the one that raised her, he was her brother, mother and father for her in some ways."

"Why doesn't people know she's Howard's daughter?" Steve asked though he knew it would have caused a scandal if someone like Howard claimed a bastard child when he was meant to be happily married

"Because of the scandal, because Maria would never have forgiven him if he acknowledged that he fathered a child with someone else, because it was easier to protect her when everyone was unaware of her." Peggy explained easily.

Steve nodded in understanding though he frowned.

From the little Peggy just told him about Howard, he didn't like how his friend had changed. Especially when it meant that his own daughter never knew him.

"How did he die?" Steve asked, hoping Peggy didn't catch the small catch in his words but knew that was a pointless thing to hope for when she sent him a concerned look.

"Car accident." Peggy told him softly. "It was very sudden, very quick. He didn't suffer."

"What have else have I missed?" He asked, and she smiled at him sadly before she told him everything that had happened to their friends over the years.

* * *

Steve watched the world go by from behind the darkened window of the car before glancing at Nate, whose face was lit up by the little touch-screen computer-tablet-thing that she showed him when he asked.

"Thank you." He told her making her head jerk up in surprise, dark eyes blinking at him in question. "For taking me to see Peggy."

How didn't he recognise those eyes that shone with the same intelligence as Howard's did?

"I didn't do it for you per say." Nate said as she waved one hand, tablet left abandoned on her lap. "I mostly did it for Aunt Peggy."

"I know." He smiled at her as more confusion filled her dark eyes. "Still I'm thankful that you did, I don't think I would have had the courage to face her."

She blinked at him and nodded in understanding.

"I guess it would be hard to face someone that seems to have aged seventy years in a day."

Something in his chest eased at her easy accepted of his admitted lack of courage. For two years he had people looking at him for courage, courage he didn't always feel but always showed because he had been Captain America. This little doll sitting beside him wasn't disappointed by his confessed lack of courage, she understood that it would be hard and she didn't scoff that Captain America was a coward when it came to seeing Peggy again knowing that seventy years had passed.

And the words Peggy whispered into his ear as she hugged him goodbye echoed in the back of his mind.

'_I think she'll be good for you.'_

"What are you doing?" He asked curious because he was tired of the silence, the silence reminded of the sudden panic when he realised he had no idea where he was, the silence reminded him of the night in the bar when he tried to get drunk.

He had been in the army, he wasn't used to such complete silence.

"Hm, I'm looking through S.H.I.E.L.D's secure files." She answered him absently, fingers dashing over the screen.

"Why?" He asked making her look at him with cautious eyes before she seemed to come to a decision.

She pressed herself against his side, lips on his ear, making him blush.

"Hydra is hiding in S.H.I.E.L.D." She whispered making him pale and look at her shocked.

She pressed a single long slender finger to his lips to stop him saying anything, glancing at their driver with a wary gaze.

He understood, she didn't know who she could trust. Steve was certain that the only reason she had trusted him enough to tell him was because she knew Steve had been fighting against Hydra and would always fight against them.

He was humbled by her show of trust, and nodded his understanding of the situation.

"Howie's the only robot dog in the world." Nate said as if that was what they had been talking about, his eyes widened more at that. "So don't worry about finding anymore robot dogs like him." She than scratched Howie's head, his tail wagged in enjoyment.

"Is there a lot of robots now?" Steve asked half-curious, half-freaked out at the fact that the dog he had been petting wasn't a real dog.

"There are quite a few." Nate admitted, tapping at the tablet until it went blank and dark. "They help build things mostly. I have a robot that looks after me, her name is Nanny, and I've had her almost all my life. Don't freak out when you see her."

"Where am I going to live?" Steve realised for the first time he was basically homeless.

"With me, I've got a spare room and I thought it would be best if you were around someone." She caught his slightly confused look at the last bit. "So you don't brood about the past."

Oh.

It made sense, that was probably what Steve would do if he was left alone to stumble through this new and strange world he had just woke up in.

"Thank you." He repeat making her shrug with an embarrassed look and a dismissive 'it's nothing, really'.

* * *

Thanks to Nate's warning, Steve didn't freak out when a maid-style robot rolled out of the kitchen after they entered Nate's—his as well he supposed—apartment.

He would admit to being bemused when Nanny herded both him and Nate towards the small dining table before she swirled off to get some food for them.

"She's a bit of a mother-hen." Nate told him with a fond and amused smile as she speared some pasta that was on the plate that Nanny gave them.

"She's nice." Steve told her in return making Nate almost beamed at him.

* * *

The 2nd May when both Steve and Nate were at their Gym, that Steve found that reminded him of home, and Steve was trying to help Nate put more strength into her punches was when Fury entered.

He paused for a moment and simply watched as Steve corrected Nate's stance before Nate let another punch flying at the punch-bag making it rock back slightly.

Nate turned a pleased smile on Steve who smiled back, a very fond smile in fact.

Fury was a spy—he was The Spy in a way—and he wasn't stupid. He could see what was happening between them and he couldn't wait till Tony realised that his little sister's first boyfriend was Captain America.

He cleared his throat loudly to break up the little love-fess making both of them turn to him, smiles slipping off their faces.

"I've got a mission for you." Fury informed them, handing over a file to Steve, who let Nate peer at it.

"Hydra's secret weapon?" Steve asked at the same time that Nate said; "So, someone's stolen the cube than."

"Yes." He said simply, before he began to explain what happened and what he needed them to do.


	13. Filler Chapter

**AN: This is just a filler chapter really, hope you like it.**

* * *

Nattie didn't leave the Manor for the first six years of her life, she had never played in the dirt and the mud, run through the rain or be exposed to all the germs that people carried around.

So it was unavoidable that she would become sick after being exposed to school and a number of children. For a genius, Tony should have considered this but as Nattie had never been sick, he didn't think about it.

He was regretting that when Nattie caught a horrible case of the flu and he didn't know what to do.

Nattie was either sleeping, throwing up any heavy food, crying hoarsely because she was ill, coughing up her lungs or sneezing violently. She was also very clingy.

Tony had never been around a sick person before, his nannies had always looked after him when he was ill and Nattie had never been sick before, so of course he panicked.

He tried to give her all the treats she liked like chocolate cake, but she just brought it back up and Nanny would scold him. One good thing came out of it though, ice-cream soothed her throat and she was able to keep it down.

He carried her around for hours like he used to when she was a toddler, one of the few times she was quiet, and bought her loads of teddies. He constantly carried around chilled juice for her as well as tissues just for her and did all his work from home.

He was up at all hours of the night with her, dotted on her endlessly, and in the end when she was better, Tony had made himself sick.

Nanny chided him as she tucked him into his bed, telling him she could have easily taken care of 'Miss Nattie' by herself.

* * *

That's the memories that come back into his mind when he sees Nattie's head wrapped in bandages, her lovely dark hair cut choppily short, after his little battle with Obie.

Large dark eyes staring out of a pale and drawn face brought back the memories of six-year-old Nattie sick for the first time and wanting her big brother all the time.

Those memories and feelings become stronger when he handed her a soft brown teddy he had picked up on his way home.

Nattie smiled as she cradled it and shifted so Tony could sit next to her, his arm slipping around her shoulders and pulling her close, letting her head rest on his shoulder.

She'll always have a scar, stretching from her right temple and pass her ear, and it would mostly be hidden by her hair. But Tony would know it was there, a reminder of the fact he could have lost her and to someone he had trusted for years.

It would be that scar that reminded Tony that he couldn't really trust anyone with his little sister, his most precious person. And because of that scar, a few years in the future, Tony would have a hard time letting his sister go, especially into the arms of Captain America.

* * *

Steve first saw the scar when he was drawing her.

Nate had been busy on the computer, numbers and text filling her screens and confusing him, but he had still drawn her because she looked so focused.

She had popped two of her painkillers—something he noted with a small amount of alarm that she did quite regularly—and run an absent hand through her hair and pushing it back, that was when he caught the silver of the pale scar on her temple and disappearing into her hairline.

He was barely aware he moved until Nate jumped under his touch when he gently touched the scar, and looked up at him with startled dark eyes.

Steve had fought in a war and had seen many wounds in the past, and almost as many scars. Nate's scar reminded him of some of the scars that the Howling Commandos had from when Hydra hit them harshly with the butt of their guns when they were under their care.

Steve, himself, had no scars as the serum healed him quickly and left no scars behind.

Someone had hit Nate in the head with something, hard enough to leave a scar and obviously with intent to harm her. And it hadn't been an accident, Steve could tell.

"I was twenty-four." Nate spoke suddenly breaking him from his thoughts, though when he glanced down at her, she was looking at her computer screens. "My brother had been hurt, dying, and I was so shocked that I didn't see the blow coming. Nanny stitched me up after cutting my hair and cleaning the blood away, she moved me to the couch before going to clean up the blood off the floor.

I woke up as she was cleaning. There was so much blood, it was like something straight out of a horror movie, and head wounds bleed a lot after all. The floor had to be replaced, it was too stained with my blood."

"My friend, Bucky, had a few scars like this." Steve told her, thumb absently stroking along the scar. "He got them when he was captured by Hydra, they had beat him a lot."

Steve's face tightened both because of the memory and because of the fact that Hydra was still alive, alive in the division that Peggy, Phillips and Howard had built, a division that Nate worked for and a division he was working for.

He startled as her slim petite hand grabbed his hand, pulling it away from her head but she kept hold of it, and she looked up at him with stubborn and determined dark eyes.

"We'll stop them." She told him. "You've helped do it before, and I'll be there for you the whole way. We'll destroy the whole Hydra."

Her complete confidences made a grim smile curl his lips, the coolness to her dark eyes when she spoke of destroying told a promise.

It was a dark promise, a promise that spoke of the death of many men and women who hailed from Hydra, and it was a promise that was going to be stained with blood.

And he should have been horrified, he was Captain America and he was meant to stand for goodness, justice, honour and all that. But he was also Steve Rodgers, a boy from Brooklyn that had hated bullies, a man that had wanted to fight for his country despite being rejected a number of times, a man that didn't want to kill anyone but having to anyway because he was soldier, a man that lost his dearest and oldest friend to Hydra soldiers, a soldier thrust straight out of both his war and his time, a man drowning in this strange and new world, a man who had gone to sleep and woke up with everyone he knew gone or old, a man who was only holding on to his sanity because of the woman in front of him, a man that was darkly pleased with the promise she had given and a soldier that would destroy Hydra once and for all.

He may be Captain America, but he had been Steve Rodgers for far longer and would always be Steve Rodgers first. And he knew he had faults like everyone, he knew he could be as cruel and violent as the bullies he hated, he knew he could be judgemental like everyone else and as hot-tempered as any man.

Just because he was all those things didn't mean he was evil or bad, it didn't mean that he wouldn't save the world again or help civilians in need of aid, it didn't mean he couldn't still be kind and it didn't really make him any less of a hero in some people's eyes. It just made him human.


	14. Chapter 13

Bruce knew he had no choice when Natasha Romanoff said she was from S.H.I.E.L.D, she could pretend all she liked that he had a choice but Bruce knew better. He wasn't an idiot after all, and he wasn't stupid enough to believe that they only wanted him for his mind—they wanted the other guy too.

The caution that shone in Romanoff's green eyes intrigued him. She held him in more caution—and hidden fear—than someone who had only read or watched a clip of what the other guy could do. Bruce wondered which loss of control she had been witness of, and if she had been hurt.

He decided no after studying her some more. She hadn't been hurt, and she knew that was lucky.

Still he didn't like being surrounded by military people that marched across this ship and glanced at him with wary eyes and tensed frames.

"Dr Banner." Romanoff called as she made her way with Captain America.

Something in his gut twisted unpleasantly at the sight of the tall and muscular blond. The other guy had happened because he had tried to make the serum that made _him _and some part of him would always resent the Captain because of that.

Still he ignored it as he greeted the Captain and exchanged words with him.

The fact that this ship could fly made him nervous, if he lost control—

His thoughts were cut off by a loud annoyed female shout;

"Oi, what are you doing with my stuff?"

Bruce was interested to note that Captain's face gained an embarrassed yet fond expression while Romanoff sighed in almost fondness before she gestured them to follow her towards the voice.

A petite woman was glaring at an agent with a scowl as they held a black metal case, puffing up in annoyance when they almost dropped it with a Yorkshire terrier sitting beside her sneaker-clad feet.

"Nate." Steve called out making the petite woman turn to them, short dark curls swirling around her face and brushing her shoulders.

He watched in interest as annoyance faded from the woman's face and a fond smile curled her lips as her dark gaze meet Steve's bright one. He also recognised the woman—Nate Howard—and wondered what she was doing here with S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Steve." She greeted, sparing a single glance of Bruce—a glance that showed she recognised him but had no fear or caution which surprised him—before pinning Romanoff with a glare. "Tell them to stop trying to take my stuff, Tasha."

Romanoff smirked before snapping at the man who dropped the case as gently as possible before almost rushing off.

"Over-protective much Nate?" Romanoff asked as Steve moved to grab the case for Nate.

Nate ignored the taunt as Steve easily picked up the case with one hand while held out his other arm for her to hold like they must have done when he was growing up.

"He shouldn't have touched my stuff." Nate said when the coupled joined them again, the little dog close on her heels.

"I didn't know we could bring pets." Bruce commented making amused dark eyes turn to him and a secret smile.

"Howie's special like that." Nate smirked before Romanoff led them into the ship.

"I don't see why you had me tell him off when you could do it yourself." Romanoff mused to Nate.

"Because you have the whole scary Russian assassin thing going on." Nate answered easily, she then turned to look at Bruce. "My brother loves read your papers, he'll mostly likely swoon if he meets you. And I totally respect your breath-taking anger-issues."

He blinked in shock and surprise;

"Mmm, thanks, I think?"

* * *

There was a dog in the lab—Nate Howard's dog to be exact—and it was staring at him with dark eyes as it sat on its haunches.

Bruce couldn't help keep glancing at it, animals didn't like him much. They could always sense the other guy and that made them keep a distance. So he was surprised that this dog—Howie—stayed in the lab with him, even when Bruce tried to shuffle him out (dodging his hands and moving further back into the lab) and didn't flinch when Bruce moved around him.

The dog was unsettling him. It was plain and simple, and rather stupid really.

He didn't even know why it was with him. Sure, Nate had gone off with Steve to Germany—and it had both been unsurprising and surprising at the same time that she was Valkyrie—and wasn't around for him to follow. Romanoff had gone as support—though Bruce didn't think she was needed, Captain America and Valkyrie going after one man? Simple. Even if said man was apparently a god—and Fury didn't seem like the man who would let a little dog follow him around, but wasn't there anyone else that it could follow?

Why did it follow him? He hadn't pet it, hadn't given it any special attention, and yet it had come padding in when Agent Coulson came to tell him that Romanoff, Steve and Nate had gone off to Germany to fight and bring back Loki, and it didn't leave.

Why couldn't it keep following after Coulson? Coulson probably wouldn't mind—Bruce ignored the glare that he could have sworn Coulson had sent the dog before he left. But still, why him?

He jumped as it brushed up against his leg, peering up at him with innocent dark eyes, and wondered if Nate had put it up to this. And if she did, he was getting her back for this—somehow or someway, he would get her back.

He shifted away from it, the dog followed, he asked it to sit and stay and then went to look at another screen—he could feel its dark eyes burning in his back—and tried to ignore it was there at all.

Its nails clicking on the floor made him close his eyes and sigh, he didn't even jump when it brushed against his legs again before curling up so it was basically laying on his feet.

It seemed he wouldn't be able to move without waking him.

He would definitely get Nate back for this.


	15. Chapter 14

Men were idiots that were ruled by their egos, Nate decided as she watched the pissing contest between Thor and Tony—Steve was at least trying to stop them.

They did realise that they had left Loki—their prisoner and no.1 enemy at the moment—alone and unattended, right?

Tony was meant to be a genius and Thor couldn't be that stupid, could he? She had read about his prowess in battle so Thor certainly knew better than to leave a prisoner unguarded—then again said prisoner was his brother so perhaps his love blinded him?

Nate frankly didn't know, and found she didn't honestly care at that moment.

They were in the middle of a forest in Europe, the cube was nowhere to find, Tasha was still pissed that Barton was AWOL, their prisoner could escape at any moment and her brother thought this was a good time for a pissing contest with a god? Really?

It seemed that you shouldn't let a man do a woman's job.

* * *

The men were distracted from the second budding cage-match when Loki was thrown between them and smashed into the earth.

Three heads looked up as Valkyrie descended almost gently down to the ground, placing one armoured boot on Loki's back with enough force that he grunted as he tilted his face out of the dirt.

Valkyrie's face-plate shifted up and folded down so her head was free for them to see, the completely unimpressed look fixed on her face was visible to each of the men's suddenly sheepish gaze.

"Idiots." Nate scorned, ignoring the affronted looks on both Thor's and Tony's—having lifted his faceplate when he saw her—faces. "What is one of the most important things to do when dealing with a prisoner?"

The three men were silent as they watched her with sheepish eyes.

"Captain?" Nate prompted.

"Not leave the prisoner unattended." Steve answered as he tried not to cower under the sharp glare that she was levelling them.

Steve had learnt quickly that Nate could be scary when she wanted to be. And he could tell that she wanted to be at that moment.

"And what did you three idiots do?" She asked, scanning them with hard eyes before pinning her gaze on to Tony. "Tony?"

"Left him unattended." Tony answered sourly before he tried to defend himself. "It was his fault—He pointed childishly at Thor who glared at him—he took our stuff! And started the fight!"

"Only because you were being insufferable." Thor shot back at Tony.

"Big words for a man wearing his mother's drapes." Tony mocked back.

"Enough." Nate ordered in such a sharp tone that made Thor snap his mouth shut immediately. "We're all going back to the jet with the prisoner and we will head back to S.H.I.E.L.D as peacefully as your egos can allow us."

They didn't argue as Nate finally took her foot of Loki's back and hulled him up by the back of his jacket. They just meekly followed the armoured woman as she dragged Loki—ignoring his curses and such as she did—to where Tasha had landed the jet.

Idiots, the lot of them.

* * *

Returning to the carrier was spent in silence, and while Loki was being lead to his cage and Tony to deal with the damage done to his suit, the rest went to the bridge.

Thor seemed impressed when Nate's Valkyrie's suit folded down and off her body before forming a case at her feet.

"I'm Nate." Nate introduced herself to Thor before she thumped into the chair beside Captain.

"Thor." Thor gave a nod of respect to the female warrior.

Loki's words heightened the tension between them before Tony came in and brought his own type of tension to the mix.

The banter of science words that was exchanged between Tony and Bruce made Nate smile.

"Finally, someone who speaks English." Tony declared in an almost mocking away as he strutted closer to Bruce.

"Is that what happened?" Steve asked, confused.

Nate gave him a smile filled with sympathy as she placed a hand on his arm, unaware of the narrowed gaze that Tony fixed on the two of them—mind whirling as he noticed the fondness between them and his mind clicked unpleasantly as Fury strode in and began talking.

"No!"

Tony became aware he had interrupted something when startled gazes turned to him, but he didn't care as he pulled his sister—HIS LITTLE SISTER—away from the Captain.

"No way in hell." He told as he took her shoulders, ignorant to the way that everyone was staring at him and how Steve stood up to protect the petite woman from the obviously mad man. "I forbid you."

"You forbid me?" Nate spluttered as Tony lightly shook her. "What the hell?"

"You can't! He's much too old for you!" Tony protested, a wild look appearing in his dark eyes as he darted a dark look at Steve.

"He's physically the same basic age as me really." Nate pointed out when it clicked what—or rather who—he was talking about. "And it's not really your decision."

"Like hell it isn't!" He near-shouted as he shook her again. "I'm your brother and I forbid you!"

Bruce was the only one that was surprised by that, and Bruce wondered why he was really that surprised. It made more sense really.

"Really? You're pulling the brother card?" She asked him—torn between amused and annoyed. "I'm twenty-six!"

"He's meant to be in his nineties! Or, you know, dead!" Tony said.

"Wow, you take blunt to a whole new level." Nate was almost amazed. "He's standing right next to us."

"Don't care." Tony dismissed. "I forbid you."

"You're over-reacting, we're only friends." Nate protested.

"Friends don't have that look in their eyes when they smile at and touch their friend!" Tony's voice went high as he gestured with one hand. "I know, Pepper gave me that look. I gave Pepper that look. You're giving Cap that look and he's giving it back!"

"Excuse me." Fury decided to cut in. "But we have other things more important than your family drama. Stark if you would help Banner find the cube, we would all be on so grateful."

Tony shot a look towards Nate that clearly said it wasn't over, darted another dark look at Steve, before he left with an amused Bruce.

* * *

Tempers were close to breaking as tense grew and words became nastier, everyone was brought out of their angry-daze when a loud and sharp snap echoed through the air before loud curses followed.

Nate was gripping the wrist of her left hand tightly as she danced slightly in pain with curses flying out of her mouth.

Steve looked very guilty, despite the fact that she had been the one to hit him, and tried to help her.

Tony blocked him as he gently held his cursing sister's wrist.

"You punched Captain America in the face for me." Tony sounded extremely touched and a bit gleeful as he led her Bruce, who had fished some bandages from somewhere, and began to wrap her hand firmly.

Nate just tearful glared at her brother, dearly regretting what she had just done.

Because her hand was still being bandaged by Bruce when the tracker beeped and moved with him towards the screen, she went flying with both Tasha and Bruce when the carrier exploded.

As she smashed her head on the metal when she landed and felt darkness grip her sight, she wished she thought to keep a helmet on—she was always being knocked out at the worse moment and she hated it.

* * *

Hulk liked Nate, had liked Nate since she had meet Bruce's stare without a slightest bit of fear or caution, and had liked her more when it came clear that she was the metal man's sister—a man that much like his sister, didn't fear Bruce and provoked him to show his trust in both Bruce and Hulk.

So when he caught a glimpse of her lax form when he was hunting for the redhead—that had annoyed Bruce and with the smell of fear—well he was distracted and concerned.

He had just gently scooped her up, keeping her cradled in one of his large arms, when Thor attacked.

It was hard to fight the god while being careful of the fragile woman in his arms, but Hulk made do. He had to protect the woman who had looked at Bruce with trusting eyes.

Hearing a feminine groan when he had smashed Thor through a bunch of crates made him peer down as unfocused dark eyes glanced up at him, blood sticking her hair to her small face.

"Bruce…?" Nate groaned out, blinking once in confusion. "Oh, Hulk."

There was no fear in her eyes, no fear in her scent, and she trustingly drifted back to unconsciousness in his arms.

So in return, Hulk kept her safe or at least he tried too.

Being shot at by a plane just made him angrier especially when one bullet hit the arm that was cradling Nate, which lead him to attacking said plane and then falling with Nate still cradled in one of his arms as he fell with a roar.


	16. Chapter 15

**AN: I'm not very good at writing fight scenes so I'm not going to ruin the awesomeness of the Avengers battle.**

* * *

Coulson had been one of the few friends that Tony had, hearing that he was gone numbed him to almost everything. Almost.

Finding out that his sister had been with the Hulk when he was being shot at and then fell with him off the carrier was something that pissed Tony off to no end—but he knew it wasn't the right time to have a go at Fury so he would bind his time before he unleashed his full fury on to Fury.

Steve's jaw could have been wired shut with how tight he was clenching it as Fury detailed how and why Hulk and Nate free-fell off the carrier, his blue eyes were like blue fire as he silently drilled holes into Fury's head.

Loki had made things personal, he had separated them and attacked them where they were meant to be safe—had separated Tony from Nate, separated Steve from Nate—and made it more personal by using his own damn tower to power his device to bring his freaky-assed alien army.

He then had the balls to throw Tony out of his own fuckin' window. That son of a bitch.

* * *

"You fell from the sky." Were the first words that Bruce heard when he woke up in a pile of rubble and peered groggily up at the older man peering down at him with a casual expression. "Big, green and butt-ass naked."

"Did I hurt anyone?" was the first question that tumbled out of his mouth.

"There's no one around here to hurt." The man said as he continued to peer down at Bruce. "You scared the hell out of some pigeons when you landed. Good aiming on your part."

"I was awake when I landed?" Bruce asked a bit shocked which the man answered with a casual 'sure'.

"I wasn't sure these were going to fit." The man said as he tossed down some clothes for Bruce. "But your lady friend assured me that you would shrink."

"Lady friend?" Bruce asked in confusion and worry as he wigged into the trousers.

"Hey big guy." A very familiar voice greeted him from below him.

Sitting on a piece of rubble like a throne was a dusty Nate, who looked up at him with a sly grin that made her look like her brother. Her slender fingers were wrapped around a mug and there was a white-bandage plaster slapped on the side of her head.

"How…?" Bruce asked as he stared down at her with wide eyes as he swiftly finished dressing—he couldn't believe that she had seen him naked and had said nothing when he had been putting the trousers on.

"You were cradling her like a baby." The stranger piped up helpfully. "She only had a small knock to her head that had already stopped bleeding when you landed."

"Okay." Bruce said slowly, wondering if Tony was going to get him arrested for the other guy kidnapping his sister and why Nate wasn't at all hurt from the other guy—he also wondered if he was going to have an angry Captain America on his case for taking his girlfriend and free-falling off the carrier with her (all when he was supposedly butt-assed naked).

"Are you an alien?" The stranger asked bluntly making Nate muffle her laugh with her hand and making Bruce look at him confused. "From outer space, an alien?"

"No." Bruce answered slowly as he began to lace up his burrowed boots.

"Well then, son, you have a condition." The older man told him seriously making Nate laugh loudly.

"Oh yeah." Nate said teasingly, a grin on her face as her dancing dark eyes meet Bruce's. "He definitely has a condition."

The Stark siblings were strange, Bruce decided, and had no sense of fear or self-preservation.

* * *

"Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us..."

Steve cut himself off when he heard a motorbike heading towards them and they turned towards the noise.

"Steve!" Nate waved from where she was perched behind Bruce on the small motorbike that pulled to a stop.

"Nate." Steve easily swung her off the bike and into his arms, before bringing her into a passionate and breathless kiss. "You're okay."

Nate grinned up at him easily; "Sure I am, Hulk looked after me after all."

"So this is horrible." Bruce said awkwardly as he tried not to look at the kissing couple.

"I've seen worse." Tasha raised an eyebrow making Bruce wince.

"Sorry." He apologised.

"We could do with worse." Tasha told him.

"Stark. Banner and Nate are here." Clint spoke into his ear piece making Bruce look almost shocked that they had expected him. "Just like you said."

A happy bark broke Steve and Nate out of their embrace and the teams' heads turned to see Howie bringing the condensed form of Valkyrie to them.

"Good boy Howie." Nate praised before she began to put the suit on.

"Did you see the dog on the jet?" Clint asked Tasha in confusion, who shook her head in reply—she had no idea how he got there either.

"Alright, Howie. Into the tower." Nate ordered, her voice robotic because of the suit, the dog-bot did as he was told and padded off towards Stark Tower.

"I'm bringing the party to you." Tony declared, relief clear in his voice when he heard Nate's voice.

"I…I don't see how that's a party." Tasha voiced as she looked at the leviathan following after Tony.

"Dr Banner, now's the time you should really get angry." Steve said as he watched Bruce striding towards the on-coming monster.

"That's my secret Captain." Bruce threw a smirk over his shoulder. "I'm always angry."

And the Hulk was in business.

* * *

Nate and Tony had fought together before, they tag-teamed Chitauri while Clint picked off their tails.

Tony was pleased that Nate had gone to help Thor and Steve when Fury told him of the nuke, he wasn't letting his sister anywhere near the nuke. He had Jarvis cut the power off her suit as he saw her about to follow and help him and winced as she smashed back down to earth before she unlocked her suit and stepped out into battle with no protection.

"TONY!" She screamed, Steve wrapping one arm around her waist when she lurched forward.

Tony knew then that his sister would kill him if he didn't kill himself.

* * *

"Tony Stark's Ironman is heading towards the portal with what looks like missile."

Pepper's nails stabbed into her hands as she watched the live-footage.

"Something seems to be wrong with Valkyrie's suit." Pepper winced as she watched Nate smash into the ground. "The suit is being removed—is that Natasha Howard?"

Valkyrie's secret was out in the open.

* * *

While the others were happy with watching the Hulk grab Tony, Nate had begun to run towards them.

She was the first to reach Tony, the first to see his reactor off, and fell to her knees next to him as Tony's face-plate was ripped off by one of the others.

She was the one who rested her head on the cold metal of Tony's suit, the one who allowed her tears to fall, and the only one that didn't flinch at Hulk's roar.

Nate also became the only one to say that they had hugged the Hulk with him hugging back gently.

She had to laugh at Tony's want to try shawarma despite not knowing what it was.

She got a lift up to the penthouse of the Stark Tower by Hulk—he was also kind enough to pick up her suit.

Loki turned to face the whole team of the Avengers—the beast was back with Stark's sister perched easily on his shoulder this time. He saw the tension in Hawkeye's arms as he kept himself back from putting an arrow into his eye before looking at Stark.

"I'll have that drink now."

* * *

Tony decided to be kind and gave Loki a drink while they waited for S.H.I.E.L.D to pick up the defeated villain before they went off for shawarma.

It was an awkward and tired meal with Thor silently eating his fill next to Bruce and Clint, who kicked his feet up on Tasha's seat, with the three of them slowly eating and Tony glaring between bites at the arms around Nate's slim waist that kept her secure on Steve's lap as the couple ate.

The tension was broken when Rhodey in his War Machine landed outside the shawarma place.

"You're late." Tony informed him making the Colonel curse.

"Where were you?" Nate asked curiously as she helped Steve eat—his hands were busy keep her on his lap so she was being helpful to Tony's disgust.

"Hong Kong." Rhodey answered as his face-plate slid up.

He blinked at the sight of Nate and Captain America before turning to Tony.

"Is your sister dating Captain America?" He asked with Tony answering with a loud 'no' when Nate and the Captain said 'yes'.

That kicked off another argument like the one on the carrier as Rhodey removed his suit and pulled up a seat and nicked some of Tony's food—the billionaire was too distracted by his spat with Nate that he didn't notice.


	17. Chapter 16

It was strange how strong bonds could grow in the heat of battle, Nate mused as she slid out of the car she had shared with Tony.

Thor and his brother was going home today. This would their goodbye for now.

The news channels were buzzing with clips of the Battle of New York and the aftermath, both Tony and herself had realised that soon the Avengers would have to call a press conference and get everything sorted out before some idiots began to blame the whole battle on them.

They had been debating letting the world know that she was Tony Stark's sister as they both knew questions would be thrown at them because it was now known that Nate was Valkyrie. It would save them having to deal with the press trying to ruin Tony and Pepper's relationship and the budding relationship of Nate and Steve.

Plus it would cause chaos and let Tony mock the press for them not seeing the family features that they shared for the fourteen years that Nate had been in the public's eyes.

Nate smiled at Steve when he joined them and slipped her hand into his, smiling wider when he interlocked their fingers together as flashed her a smile.

She ignored Tony's huff and dark glare—he would get used to it. Eventually.

She only let go of Steve's hand to give Thor a parting-hug which he returned with slightly greater strength that made her wheeze. She had to slap him on the back with her left hand—which had been placed in plaster after they had finished eating and everyone remembered that she had punched Captain America in the face. It wasn't broken, just fractured—to remind him to let her go after he lifted her in the air with his strength.

Thor grinned sheepishly as he put her down and Steve had to steady her, he ignored the dark glares Steve and Tony was fixing on him as he knew he would have acted the same if someone hugged his dear Jane with too much strength.

"I'll return for the joyful union of you two." Thor declared as he slapped his hands on Steve's and Nate's shoulders, smiling gleefully at their blushes and stammered denies as Tony puffed up like an enraged cat—spitting and hissing at Steve to trash the idea of Tony ever allowing his sister to marry him because that wasn't happening as long as he lived and breathed—only to wince and wheeze when Nate 'accidently' hit him in the stomach with her cast.

Steve and Nate may have gotten together in the heat of the battle, but Thor could see their feelings for the other was strong. There would be marriage in their future—of that Thor was sure—and Tony wouldn't be able to stop it happening.

He finished his goodbyes before taking the transporting device, watching as Bruce placed the cube in it to power the device, before walking to his brother and holding it out to him.

Completely defeated, Loki reached out with his chained hands to grab one end of the device.

Satisfied that his brother wasn't going to try to fight him or run, Thor gave one last nod to his new friends before twisting his end of the device.

He would be coming back for the Lady Nate's wedding to Steven, he vowed as the blue light of the cube departed them back home.

Nate hid a grin when she saw Bruce slid into Tony's car with his bag—the doctor wouldn't be heading to the airport like he had declared.

After all, Tony had promised he would see candy land, and there was no way that Tony was going to let Bruce hole himself up alone anymore. Bruce was a friend now and Tony could be very clingy when it came to friends.

She hugged Tasha knowing that she and Steve would be seeing Tasha and Cling soon. They all worked for S.H.I.E.L.D after all.

Tasha hugged back—Nate was one of her few friends after all—and smirked to herself as Nate slipped on to Steve's motorbike behind the soldier and wrapping her slender arms around his middle.

The Captain better not hurt Nate because Tony wouldn't be the only one out for his blood, Tasha thought to herself as she slipped into the car with Clint.

* * *

Nate had been chosen as the spokes-person when the press conference was finally called. Something about her having the patience of a saint, according to Clint—Tasha said she had to with her living with Tony which made her brother pout and Steve and Bruce to laugh.

But standing at the podium and staring at the small sea of faces with mics, recorders and flashing camera, Nate cursed the fact that she agreed.

She was the sibling who didn't care for attention, the sibling that didn't have reports swarming her for private details of her life, and the sibling that never had to deal with press conferences.

She was simply Natasha Howard, a genius who channelled her brilliance into her art, and had a habit of appearing on Tony Stark's arm because he 'sponsored' her as a child.

She breathed deeply through her nose, grateful she had already popped some of her painkillers as she was sure this conference was going to cause a headache, and smiled wanly out at the cameras and the leeches that called themselves reporters.

"Right, so the PR department gave me this speech to tell you have everything is mostly classified and such." Nate began as she held the coloured speech cards up in the air. "But I know that isn't going to fly with all of you and frankly people deserve to know the truth. So questions?"

"Who attacked New York?"

"Was it really aliens?"

"Where are they now?"

"Why has Tony Stark built you a suit?"

"Is that the real Captain America?"

"Why is the Hulk on your team?"

"Do you feel threatened by the Hulk?"

"Are you really having a secret affair with Tony Stark?"

Nate raised her cast covered hand to silent them so she could answer.

"The attack on New York was orchestrated by the alien Asgard Loki." She began to answer the questions. "You'll all remember Thor from last year?" She paused for the nods. "Loki was Thor's brother and that was why Thor came to help us defeat his brother. Loki has been taken back to Asgard to face justice at the hands of Odin—who we know from the legends will judge and punish him duly for his crimes.

Yes this is Captain Steven G Rodgers, and yes he is the real Captain America who was found earlier this year.

The Hulk is a valued team-mate, who without the alien army would have overrun us and Tony would be dead. I don't feel threatened by Hulk, he's my friend that I know for fact will have my back." She said firmly.

"Why have you got a suit? And question about a possible affair between you and Mr Stark?" One reporter shouted out. "Why haven't answered that?"

"One, I ignored the question about an affair between Tony and I because the thought grosses me out as I'm not into incest." Nate answered honestly before the reporters burst into questions so she had to almost shout to be heard. "Two, the reason I have a suit is because my brother wants me to be safe. And three, I think you're all idiots for not noticing the family resemblance between the two of us as I've always been told I have Howard Stark's, our fathers, eyes."

She then innocently blinked said eyes at the chaos that was the reporters while Tony howled in amusement in the background, Tasha hid a smirk while Clint flat-out smirked at the reporters, Bruce had a small smile on his face and Steve was shaking his head at her with a fond smile on his lips.


	18. Chapter 17

The rest of the year should have been peaceful, boring even. They had defeated an alien army in May after all, why shouldn't they have the rest of the year off?

And for a time, Nate honestly believed that they would have a peaceful year. She had been happy, her relationship with Steve was growing wonderfully—he no longer slept in the spare room—and she had become friends with Thor's Jane and her friend Darcy—whose blunt nature clashed wonderfully with her own.

There was a hiccup in August with the Melter that Tony and Rhodey was able to defeat together when she and Steve were off on a S.H.I.E.L.D mission, and didn't hear about it until they got back.

But it seemed to be a small thing and nothing to ruin the rest of their peaceful year.

December was when they were getting ready to spend their first Christmas as a team and strange family—Nate had invited Jane, Darcy and Erik to join them—and they would all be spending at the newly dubbed Avengers Tower that Tony insisted everyone moved in to—Nanny was overwhelmed with happiness at the thought looking after more people.

There was a festive feel to the air, a happy content feeling deep in her chest, and then it went wrong. The Mandarin happened.

On the 19th Happy was caught in an explosion—the attack was claimed by the Mandarin—and on the 20th Tony threatened him on TV.

* * *

"Taunting terrorists into attacking is an idiotic move Tony." Nate chided Tony as she swung her legs as she watched Tony.

"They attacked Happy." Tony shot back with a scowl.

Nate watched Tony with concern. He wasn't coping, Nate could tell from one glance. He wasn't over New York, Pepper was most likely the only thing that kept him from cracking. Nate had Steve and they talked about New York, they had gotten over it really together. But Tony had died for a brief moment, her brother had been dead and that had changed him, hurt him in a way that fighting that war hadn't.

Tony was a civilian, a civilian that had never fought in a war before. Nate had experience in the field, S.H.I.E.L.D made sure that she had field-missions and had gotten thrown into combat situations like mini-wars. Tony hadn't had that experience as he didn't work with S.H.I.E.L.D like she had, he didn't work for them like she had so they didn't put in as much effort in training him as they did for her.

"I doubt they knew he was there." Nate reasoned.

"Shouldn't you be with Steve?" Tony asked. "Buying cutesy Christmas gifts?"

Nate scowled as Tony scanned through all the information Jarvis had compiled for them, she sighed when the doorbell rang.

Watching Pepper and Tony argue with Maya piping up every now and again was interesting, getting a missile shot at her childhood home wasn't.

Valkyrie's suit came to her aid as she protected Maya while Pepper protected Tony in one of his Ironman suits. She let Pepper protect Maya while she covered Tony and shot at the bastards shooting at their home.

When Tony went down in the sea, she followed him and helped him get out of the rubble.

"Go to Steve!" Tony ordered through Jarvis.

He had just promised Steve that morning over the phone when Nattie showed up that he would keep her save and make sure she could come home. Steve hadn't been impressed or amused of Tony's little threat, and hadn't been pleased that Nattie had decided to go to the house that Tony had told the world the address of when she could be attacked because of Tony.

"What? No!" Nate protested as she pulled him out and they began leaving the sea.

"Jarvis." Tony ordered and the A.I knew what he wanted because the next second Valkyrie was shooting off out of the sea and hopefully towards Steve while Tony headed somewhere.

"TONY!" Nate screamed in worry, anger and fear as she couldn't get the control of her suit back.

* * *

"Miss Nattie is incoming." Jarvis informed the team before Valkyrie landed heavily on the landing pad on the Tower.

Steve looked up from the couch confused, Nate was meant to be Malibu with Tony so she tell him off for threating terrorists before dragging him back to the Tower to celebrate Christmas like they had said they would.

He watched with growing concern as the suit was pulled off her and locked away under the pad and Nate fell to her knees with a pale face and tears running down them.

"Nate!" He shouted as he made his way out to her. "What happened?"

"Tony." She choked out as she fell into Steve's strong arms. "We were attacked."

"Natasha! Clint! Bruce!" Steve shouted as he lifted Nate up.

* * *

Jarvis kept Valkyrie on lock down and Tony was presumed dead.

Christmas Eve found the rest of the team in the living room of the penthouse on the top of the Tower—they had all found the rooms that Tony had made for them (Nate hadn't been amused with the cell-like room that had Steve's name on it and had informed him bluntly that they would be staying together in the same room) long ago—and each of them were waiting for news.

None could believe Tony was dead and Nate didn't know where Pepper had gone off too.

Bruce had taken to pacing behind the couch where Nate sat curled up with Steve with Howie on her lap—she hadn't moved since Steve picked her up and carried her inside. Clint had climbed into the vents above them—blue eyes peered down when Nanny came around with drinks and snacks and that was really the only time he left the vent—and Tasha was cleaning all her guns and placing them on the coffee table.

The Christmas tree decorated with the decorations of her childhood seemed to mock Nate, who buried herself further into Steve, as they reminded her of Tony and how he had never missed a Christmas with her.

* * *

Christmas day brought the news Tony was alive, of the Battle on the Norco, the kidnapping and recuse of the President by the Iron Patriot, the destruction of Tony's Iron Legion, Pepper being infected by Extremis and how they were coming back.

It was early Boxing Day morning—dawn hadn't even broken—when Tony and Pepper entered the Tower where everyone was there to greet them.

Tony and Bruce quickly holed themselves up in the lab as they worked to stabilize Pepper's Extremis.

By the 27th her Extremis had been stabilized and Tony went under surgery to remove the shrapnel embedded near his heart with the help of Extremis.

* * *

"You're an idiot." Tasha declared as she entered Tony's hospital room with the others behind her.

Tony flashed her a cocky grin before searching for familiar dark eyes. He found them and the special girl that owned them in the arms of Steve—he scowled darkly at the tall blond, but not as darkly as he had once before—and opened his arms wide for his Nattie.

She didn't hesitate as she pulled away from Steve and strode swiftly to her brother and hugged him tightly. Tony was after all the most important man in her life—no matter what Rodgers thought.

"You're a bastard." She whispered harshly and chokingly into his ear making him hum in agreement. "I told you that I would always have your back."

"I had to do this, Nattie." He told her simply before dragging her on to the bed, smiling as she placed her head automatically in the middle of his chest—the Extremis had already healed his chest and everything. "I had to keep you and Pepper safe."

It was strange yet familiar for Nate to be able to rest her head on his chest without feeling the reactor under her ear and cheek and the blue glow glaring into her eyes—it reminded her of when she was little.

Tony smiled at Pepper as she tearfully held his hand and smiled back while his team—friends—found places to settle themselves in the room.

They ended up celebrating Christmas on the 29th, passing gifts out in the middle of the living room in the Tower—tree still standing proud.

Steve and Nate had decided to make the gifts they gave the others. Tony and Pepper got portraits of the couple—with and without the reactors glow on Tony's painted chest—while Tasha got a clay figurine of a spider that Nate made and that Steve had painted so it looked like a black widow which had made Tasha smirk. Clint had been given a little archer figurine and a painting that Nate had done that showed him putting an arrow in Loki's eye—it was macabre painting that Clint loved and swore to put up in his room—while Steve gave Bruce a drawing of Nate sitting happily on the Hulk's shoulder and Nate gave him a drawing of him focused in the lab—the best of both of his sides.

Tony gave Bruce a Hulk T-shirt with a gleeful childish smile which made Bruce sigh and put it on when Tony childishly poked at him to put it on. He gave Pepper Ironman lingerie that made Clint whistle, Tasha and Nate smacked a smirking Tony, Steve and Pepper blushed and Bruce smile in amusement. He gave Clint a new set of arrows that would come back to his sheath, and Tasha got a new gun specially designed for her. Nate got a Captain America hoodie while Steve got a Valkyrie t-shirt from Tony.

Tasha and Clint just gave everyone cards with thirty dollars in them to get whatever they wanted which Tony declared was just them copping out on thinking about giving them real presents.

Pepper got watches for all the men and bracelets for both Nate and Tasha—they were charm bracelets with the symbols of all the Avengers dangling from them.

Bruce gave them very tradition Christmas jumpers as he didn't know what to get them and that was the first thing that came to mind. They were warm and comfortable, and Nate and Steve put theirs on right away.

Nate gave Steve a sketchbook—it was full of drawings, hand-written stories, old photographs and documents. There was the wedding picture of his parents, the photograph was kept on the page with a paperclip while there was a full sketch on the page, the wedding certificate that they had signed, sketches of both his mother and father, sketches of him both before serum and after, Bucky, Howard and Peggy, the Howling Commandos, old photographs of them all, sketches and coloured photos of the places they had visited together, of them curled up together on the couch during one of their movie-nights, of the team and little stories throughout it about parts of his life—mostly stories from his time with the Howling Commandos though some from his time with the Avengers. It was a book filled with his life, his whole life with all his most important people in it.

Steve looked up at her anxious face as she watched him closely, his throat tight and his eyes shiny, before he pulled her into a deep kiss. It was the best gift he had ever been given, and as Steve kissed her, he was certain that Nate was the one and he would never love anyone like he loved her.

In return Steve gave her a long-chained locket that held photos of her and Tony, of her and Steve, of her and the rest of the team. She immediately slipped the silver locket over her head and let it rest over her heart.

Nanny made them a pizza for dinner that they shared as they watched Christmas movies.

It was a late-Christmas that was as odd as them—so it was perfect for the new and strange family they had become.


	19. Filler Chapter 2

Tony had kept Nattie rather sheltered during her early years, he never let on how many threats he got because of the weapons he made or the bomb scares that happened almost regularly and neglected to tell her that Happy doubled as a bodyguard as well as a driver.

So Nattie never knew the true danger her brother's life could be in—something that Tony and Jarvis kept hidden as much as possible as she grew up and began her hobby of hacking.

By the time she was in her twenties, Nattie had been confident that she knew the danger Tony was in and was prepared to deal with. May of her twenty-fourth year of life dispelled her from that illusion.

She had completely broken-down when Tony was kidnapped and then presumed dead.

She had spent the first night he was home awake and watching him simply breathing—sure that if she fell asleep, she'd really be waking up and it being a dream, him being back was a dream.

If after he came back, they spent more time together—rarely not being in the same room as the other—and gave the other reassuring fleeting touches and hugs, well they didn't mind and that was their way with coping with what happened.

That was the first time the siblings courted with death.

* * *

When Nattie came home to show Tony her new streaks and found him without his arc reactor and Obie standing there coldly calm, she froze as ice filled her veins and squeezed her heart. She had been barely breathing—so struck by horror, fear and uselessness—and hadn't seen the blow coming.

Tony had felt something scream when he saw his sister fall, saw the man he had trusted step careless over her limp body, and the blood pooling around her head.

Something in him broke at the sight of her like that, and fiery determination filled his veins as he swore Obie would pay for hurting—possibly killing—his sister.

Nattie had been someone he knew he couldn't live without, knew that he would shatter if she didn't walk on the earth, unable to give him her beaming smile ever again. The same smile that had won Tony's heart when he had be prepared to hate the tiny little baby in his arms when he was a teenager.

And he knew that was why he had been reckless in his fight with Obie—part have him had been convinced she was dead or at least slowly dying and hadn't cared if he survived the fight or not.

By some miracle both of them survived though not without scars. Nattie would always carry the scar of Obie's hard blow to the side of her head and Tony's heart would always hold the scar of Obie's betrayal.

They had spent almost a week together, basking in the fact that the other was alive, and watching Disney movies while Nanny cooked them pizza and other comfort food. They slept in the private living room of Nattie's set room—neither could really stomach being in the room where they both could have died—and lay tangled up on the couch and covered in blankets.

That would be the second time the siblings courted death.

* * *

The three time had been drawn out and long. Poison was difficult to counter, especially when the thing that was poisoning you was also keeping you alive.

As Tony became more resigned and careless, Nattie became more frantic to find a cure.

Nattie had never hated the fact she disliked science and didn't have the same grasp of it as her brother then in those long months.

Nattie had been the only one that Tony had told, the only one that knew that he was slowly dying and the only one that could see that he was preparing for the end.

Nattie survived solely on painkillers, donuts and coffee in those months. She had lost weight and holed herself inside so her skin turned a pale shade that it hadn't been since she started school and was allowed outside.

They had barely been able to relax about the fact that Tony wasn't dying anymore before he was flying off to save everyone again.

* * *

The fourth time the siblings' courted death was kept secret from Tony.

It had happened when Nate went out on her first out-of-country-mission. A new type of stun-gun had stopped her heart and it was only because of Tasha's cool-mindedness and determination that Nate was alive.

She would always remember the disconnected feeling she felt as she fell to the ground—her mind still whirling though her heart had stopped—and the horrible feeling of cold numbness that crept up her limbs before Tasha was crouching over her, green eyes panicked though pale face calm, and began pounding her chest to restart her heart.

She would always remember how her vision briefly darkened—she had been sure she was dead—before she was shooting up with gasping breathes as her body shuddered in Tasha's strong and comforting arms.

When she got back to New York, she went straight to where Tony was directing the building of Stark Tower and just hugged him long and hard to his pleased bewilderment.

The next day a picture of them hugging would be in magazines and newspapers with the question of 'Is Tony Stark cheating on his CEO girlfriend, Miss Potts, with young genius Artist?'

* * *

The fifth and sixth time happen almost at the same time with Tony caught in the propellers of the helicarrier while Nate was free-falling from said helicarrier with the Hulk her only saving-grace.

The seventh time happened later that day when Tony died putting the missile through the portal and his heart was only restarted because of the sudden shock of Hulk's roar.

Those would be the first times that they didn't go to the other for comfort. Nate had Steve and Tony had Pepper now. But if they talked more over vid-chat or Tony and Pepper was suddenly over for dinner more, well neither Steve nor Pepper mentioned it.

* * *

The eighth time they court death was because of Killian and his AIM project. They were shoot at by missiles, their home destroyed before they were separated.

Nate went numb when Tony was once again presumed dead.

He had barely been home long before he was having once life-threating surgery, and part of Nate can't help but resented both Tony and Pepper for it. Pepper because she was the reason Tony was going through with it and Tony because he was using Extremis—which had only just be stabilized—so he would survive through it.

They comfort each other briefly, Nate climbing on his bed and resting her head on his chest like she had always done since she was little. But they didn't need to cling to each other as closely anymore, though both were pleased and relieved that they were back to living together even if there was more people living with them now.


	20. Chapter 18

"Were you actively napping?" Tony asked Bruce incredulous as he stared at him.

"No, no." Bruce tried to deny as he shifted in his chair. "I just drifted."

"Just drifted?" Tony asked sceptically. "When did I lose you?"

"Elevator in Switzerland." Bruce admitted sheepishly.

"I just poured my heart and soul out to you and you sleep through my story of my past demons and pains?"

"I told you I'm not that kind of Doctor—"

"Was I boring? Is that it?"

"I'm not a therapist. I don't have the—"

"What the time-?"

"The temperament." Bruce deadpanned.

Tony stared at him and then opened his mouth to either repeat his story or start another story but was cut off.

"Can we leave?" Nate asked innocently from where she sat on the couch behind Tony's therapist couch (which he bought especially for his little chat with Bruce) with her legs across Steve's lap—he was actually happily rubbing her bare feet which made Tony seem like a bad boyfriend considering he used an empty suit to rub Pepper's shoulders once. "We listened to the story fully."

Tony shot the couple a scowl.

"Go and be all cutesy couple-like and all that." Tony huffed.

"I didn't act like this when you and Pepper got together." Nate told him.

"You moved out." Tony pointed out with a smirk.

Nate huffed before she got up and pulled Steve up and left to two scientists to their story-sharing.

"That's so weird." Tony commented. "My little sister with Captain America, a guy Dad never stopped talking about."

"What's weird is the fact that you build your sister a robot dog when she was like three and didn't warn me when she moved in with it and I had to find out when I walked in on you taking him apart." Bruce shot back.

Tony smirked, he remembered the horrified look on Bruce's face before he realised that Howie was a robot. The rant that followed was amusing to say the least in Tony's mind. Bruce didn't think him almost having a heart-attack and the Hulk freaking out to avenge Nate's fallen dog was amusing.

(Bruce would freely admit that the affection that the Hulk held Nate in was odd, especially when during the few times he had lost control Nate had been able order the Hulk around and even had him watch Disney movies once till he calmed down which he did with Nate in his arms—it had been unsettling to wake up with Nate planted on his lap as she watched Disney movies while Steve glared at the fact that Bruce was naked again (that had been before Tony had made trousers that could survive the transformation) which made Bruce flush deeply before he pushed Nate off his lap and ran for his room.)

"She was four actually." Tony informed him hauntingly. "And I'll have you know that she loves every upgrade I give him."

Bruce just shook his head totally amused. Tony was impossible.

* * *

Clint was observing from his vent—and yes it was his vent as he had claimed it with a sharpie—and was frowning down at the two couples below him.

He had read the reports on the Stark siblings as Tasha was being assigned to them. He had read how Fury thought they were co-dependent to each other, fiercely protective of the other and completely selfish when it came to the other—so he had been surprised when Pepper and Tony got together and Nate moved to New York.

From all reports the siblings had lived together since they first meet when Nate was a couple months old and Tony was seventeen—only ever being separated by Tony's job, Nate's gallery openings and such, and when Tony was kidnapped.

It seemed to be an odd and out of character move for Nate to move away from her brother, but when it came clear that she was only doing it to get more involved in S.H.I.E.L.D and make Fury back off Tony it made more sense.

Seeing Steve and Nate get together during the Battle of New York had been surprising—especially when one filtered in Tony's strong protests to the pairing—and the fact that they stayed together after and their relationship seemed to be only growing stronger had made him observe the couples when they all moved into the Tower.

He wanted to see for himself the relationship between the siblings and their partners.

The siblings were still close—able to see through the other's bullshit easily and could have silent conversions filled with slight changes to their faces and mini-gestures—and still fiercely protective of the other, but they were no longer alone and only had the other. Tony had Pepper, who needed him to protect her in a way that Nate didn't anymore, and Nate had Steve, who didn't try to shelter her from danger as long as he was right by her side.

And Clint supposed he could understand their relationship, how it had grown to make room for other people, and how they no longer needed just the other to function.

Clint and Tasha had that type of relationship—Clint would always remember the fourteen-year-old-girl with too cold green eyes that he had been sent to kill and ended up saving—and understood how it changed when they were no longer alone in the world.

Clint smirked as he watched Tony glare and scowl at Steve when the Captain cuddled closer with Nate and was only distracted when Pepper smacked him on the shoulder and gave him a tablet to play around on while the others went back to their movie.

* * *

Tony had down-right loathed Captain America—he had listened too many rants of the oh-so-prefect-soldier from his old man who spent more of his time looking for what he had to believe was a corpse than with his own son—and he hadn't liked Steve Rodgers when he had first met him.

He was self-righteous, disgustingly good and honest, and couldn't take a joke if it slapped him in the face—okay maybe he was being a bit harsh, so sue him.

He had honestly not seen what had captured Nate's interest and affection for the blond, had been sure that Steve didn't deserve his sister.

It had only been after the Battle of New York that Tony admitted to himself that he may have been the slightest bit unfair to Steve—old feelings of both Captain America and his Dad had made him unable to see that he could be friends with the tall blond.

So though he disapproved, glared and scowled at the couple, Tony watched them.

He watched the gentle yet firm way that Steve would touch Nate,—wary of his strength yet confident that he would never hurt her—he watched the way they both could go hours in silence as they lost themselves in their arts, he watched as Nate took Steve out to get him used to the modern world, watched the panic that would shine in blue eyes when Steve would be confronted by too much modern-world at once that would start to leave the moment Nate came into his sight and left completely when she took his hand or hugged him.

He watched the way that Steve would fondly watch Nate when she became lost in a new project and would actually feed Nate so she didn't have to stop her work, he watched the way Nate would comfort Steve after his flash-backs or nightmares, watched the way that Nate tried to make things easier for Steve—once dressing up in a 40s styled outfit and watching a black-and-white movie on the big screen TV that Steve had seen before he went off to war (a date like the ones that Steve would have taken his girlfriend on if he hadn't crashed and froze), watched the video online of Nate's 40s style dance flash-mob in Times Square with Nate and Steve dancing in the middle of it.

He watched the silent comfort Nate would offer when Steve was having one of his brooding days, watched as Nate joined Steve when he was working out, watched as Steve helped Nate build up her strength so he didn't have to worry about her outside her suit as much as he did, watched as Steve would gently run his fingers through her hair and massage her head when she had a headache and couldn't take her pills, he watched the gentle yet protective way that Steve held Nate when they slept and watched the love grow and shine in their eyes as they looked at each other.

And admitted grudgingly to himself that they were prefect together and Steve wasn't really that bad of a guy—he still didn't deserve his baby sister, but then again no one did.

Nate had, of course, noticed his slowly decreasing dislike of them being together and had beamed at him happily when he didn't automatically glare when Steve wrapped a loving arm around Nate's slender waist.

He still glared when he noticed the love-bites that would sometimes cover Nate's neck that she wore proudly and made Steve flush deeply though he always looked pleased and the slightest bit smug when he saw Nate's bruised neck.

('The Captain's secretly possessive then?' Clint had asked when Nate first walked into the kitchen with her neck black and blue with Steve close on her heels.

Tony had choked on his hot coffee—burning his tongue—and glared at the tall, muscular and flushing blond and the grinning archer while Bruce had snorted into his Hulk mug—Tony had especially bought it for him—and Tasha had smirked before she bit into an apple.

Nate had given them all a sly, smug and extremely pleased smirk—a smirk that Tony recognised well as he wore it often after he and Pepper became physical in their relationship—before getting her breakfast—an extra sway of her hips that had captured Steve's attention.

The couple ended up leaving before Nate could finish pouring her cereal to Tony's disbelief, disgust and anger while Clint had whistled and wagged his eyebrows when they swiftly left the kitchen.)

He didn't want to see anything that told him that his sister—HIS LITTLE BABY SISTER THAT HE HAD RAISED!—was no longer innocent because of Captain America—Steve Rodgers—and was getting more than he and Pepper was.


	21. Chapter 19

"Good Morning New York, it's Saturday 4th May 2013 and you all know what is happening today. It's the wedding of the year, the wedding of the decade—sorry England but your royal wedding won't hold a candle to this one—and it's the wedding of Captain America—Captain Steven Rodgers—and Valkyrie—Natasha Howard—in Times Square.

So you better get a place early or you'll miss it!"

* * *

Marriage hadn't been something Nate had honestly thought about, especially marrying before Pepper and Tony—Tony had yet popped the question to the redhead despite the fact they had been together longer than Steve and Nate. But here she was, cooped up in a Stark-Bus-Thing, getting ready for her wedding.

Her wedding to Steve. Her wedding to Steve with the whole nations' eyes on them. Her wedding to Steve that the whole world knew about. Her wedding to Steve that was going to be spread all over the internet. Her wedding to Steve that was going to be on every news station.

"Oh god!" Nate groaned before dashing to the bathroom, her wedding dress skirt held up by one hand so she could run.

"And this is why I'll never marry." Tasha deadpanned to the other women in the bus—all of them already dressed in royal blue bride-maids gowns.

"She's just a little nervous." Jane smiled unconvincingly.

"Yeah, and that's why she'll hurling into the toilet." Darcy snorted as she helped Pepper set down the make-up and hair brushes they were going to use.

"Darcy." Jane groaned as Nate appeared, pale faced from the toilet.

"Nate doesn't like attention." Pepper said with a small smile.

"Then you shouldn't be marrying Captain America." Darcy told Nate bluntly making Jane groan and Tasha smirk.

"I want to marry him." Nate told Darcy as Pepper led her to a seat so they could begin getting ready. "I just wished people weren't making such a big deal."

"You're superheroes, members of the world's greatest team of heroes. Of course people will make a big deal." Tasha said as she began to brush and straighten Nate's mid-back length hair.

"How can you not like attention?" Darcy asked as she peered at all the tubes of lip-gloss and lip-stick. "Your brother is Tony Stark and you've been appearing in magazines since you were twelve."

"Tony has always captured the media's attention, and I've never been watched by this many people at one time." Nate tried to explain as she stared into the mirror balanced in front of her.

Her skin was too pale and her dark eyes slightly too wide—she was a mess. Her hair was the longest she's had it since she was twenty-four—she had started growing it out after the Battle of New York. She had removed the red streaks from her hair especially for today, it was odd not to see them after three years.

Pepper placed a calming hand on her shoulder, meeting her eyes through the mirror. Green clashed with brown.

"You love him." She reminded her with a smile. "It'll be okay in the end."

And Nate smiled back at her though it was still nervous.

* * *

"I don't see why you're rushing into this." Tony said as he watched Steve fiddle with his tie—already dressed in his military uniform. "You only got together a year ago today."

"We're not rushing Tony." Steve sighed as he glanced as his soon-to-be-brother-in-law—and wasn't that a strange thought. "We know we want this."

"Just ignore him Steve." Clint advised as he flipped through the TV channels—all gushing about the wedding that was going to take place. "He's just not ready to let his little sister go."

Bruce snorted in agreement, Tony ignored them.

"How do you know you want this?" He asked Steve.

"Because she's Nattie." Steve answered simply, Tony pulled a face at hearing his nickname for his sister leaving Steve's lips—Steve didn't often use Nate's nickname as it made Tony cringe at the thought of a man sleeping with his sister called her a name that Tony had gave her when she was an innocent baby in his arms. "I wouldn't have asked her if I wasn't sure I wanted this. But I do, I always wanted to find a woman to spend the rest of my life with and that woman is Nate."

Clint and Tony made faces at how sappy Steve sounded while Bruce just smiled in fond amusement.

"Friends!" Thor boomed as he entered their bus—dressed in Asgard finesse—just as he promised he was there to witness their joyful union. "How are we all this fine and joyous morn?"

"Tony's still trying to talk Steve out of it." Bruce informed him.

"And break your sister's heart?" Thor frowned disapprovingly at Tony, who at least looked guilty. "Lady Nate would never forgive you Tony."

Thor would never drop the title of lady when it came to Nate. She was a fierce warrior that deserved the title if only because she could scare Thor despite being tiny next to him.

"She's too young." Tony whined as he flopped next to Clint who snorted at him, Tony half-heartedly swiped at him with one hand that Clint blocked almost automatically with a smirk.

"She's twenty-seven." Bruce reminded Tony. "Technically, she's a year older than Steve is biologically."

"Doesn't matter." Tony huffed and the others rolled their eyes.

Tony had been sulking since Steve popped the question in March. He had only just gotten used to the fact that Nate and Steve were in a serious relationship when Steve asked Nate to marry him and she said yes—after much kissing and such that made Tony scowl.

He was more put out that they decided to marry on the 4th May—the exact anniversary of the Battle of New York and the day they got together—which only left two months for him to get used to the idea of his sister becoming a married woman.

He hadn't yet.

* * *

"I can't believe Steve is marrying Howard's little girl." Timothy 'Dum-Dum' Dugan said with a grin as he helped Peggy out of the car they had arrived in—his white moustache twitching as he grinned.

"I knew she would be good for him." Peggy smiled knowingly, she had seen it the moment that Steve watched Nate play the piano with a look that she recognised well—he used to give her that look.

She smiled down to the white box in her hands, she had brought her veil for Nattie to wear and departed from the gentlemen to head to the bus that held her niece.

"Captain is finally getting hitched." Gabe Jones grinned a white grin that was brilliantly bright against his dark skin as he wrapped a friendly arm around both Timothy and Jacques Dernier—the last of the Howling Commandos still kicking—his wire-grey hair cropped short. "Who would have thought we'd see him getting married?"

Jacques chuckled in agreement as they made their way to the barred off area with comfortable white chairs that was for the wedding guests—the public was already claiming their spaces so they could watch the wedding.

* * *

Peggy hoped she never forgot the sight of Nattie sitting in front of the mirror dressed in a beautiful old-fashioned sleeveless lace wedding dress that tied tight around her slender waist. She had chosen a wedding-dress style that was popular in the 40s—the decade Steve would have been marrying in if it hadn't been for the crash.

Her long hair was pinned up in a bun with diamond-pins that showed off the dangling diamonds in each of her three ear piercings. She was wearing a diamond collar as well as the silver locket that Steve had given her last Christmas.

Her lips seemed fuller because of the red glossy lipstick she wore, her dark eyes were outlined carefully with a little flick to the outer corner of her eyes and a brush of dark eye-shadow across the lids. There was a hint of blush on her cheeks to give her some more colour.

"Aunt Peggy." Nattie greeted when she noticed her aged Aunt enter and made to turn.

"Stay still dear." Peggy ordered softly as she made her way towards her seated niece. "You need your veil."

Peggy carefully placed it on her head and adjusted the small veil that covered part of her face in dainty lace.

"Something borrowed." Peggy smiled as she met Nattie's eyes in the mirror. "It could also count as something old if you have nothing for that."

"Thank you." Nattie whispered, her eyes a little wet.

"Don't do that." Peggy chided. "The beautiful bride should never cry at her own wedding."

Nattie gave a little wet laugh but kept her tears a bay as Peggy hugged her from behind.

"You look beautiful." Peggy told her honestly making Nattie smile at her.

"She's right." Tasha said as she walked over to her friend—perhaps her best friend—and placed a supporting hand on her shoulder. "Are you ready?"

Nate took a deep breath before she nodded; "As I'll ever be."

* * *

As Bruce took his place beside him, Steve couldn't help the thought that it should be Bucky beside him as his best man. He shoved the thought and the emotions it invoked to the back of his mind.

He was getting married, it was the happiest day of his life and he couldn't brood on friends long since dead. Not when any moment Nate would walk down the aisle on Tony's arm to agree to be his wife.

He watched as Peggy moved quite quickly for a woman her age to her seat next to Dum-Dum, Gabe and Jacques—it was odd seeing the older faces of his old friends with the knowledge he should have been as old and grey as them.

He smiled when Dum-Dum gave him a big grin and thumbs up before his attention was captured by the music starting and the audience all quietened down.

Natasha was the first down the aisle, carelessly dropping red, white and blue rose petals—their vision of a flower-girl—before taking her place beside where Nate would stand. She gave a look to Steve that promised pain if he hurt her best friend before smiling the cameras focused on her face.

Darcy, Jane and Pepper followed after, dressed in the same royal blue dress and holding a bouquet of red, white and blue roses—Tony had groaned about how cliché the colour choice of the roses were when Nate declared them before Natasha, Nate and Pepper smacked him to shut up.

The music changed then and there she was on Tony's arm.

He felt his breath-catch in his throat as he gazed at her in awe. That was the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with and she was beautiful.

Red lips were tilted up in a beaming smile and dark eyes sparkled like the diamonds she wore constantly. She was stunning.

The moment she was beside him, his hands were wrapped around hers and they were both smiling crazily at each other.

They weren't aware of the audience and barely listened to the priest, only hearing him when it's time to repeat their vows.

It didn't matter to them that the whole world was most likely watching them, that there was a large audience of the public watching them instead of just their closest friends, it didn't matter that their faces were fixed the large screens of Times Square.

It was their wedding day and they were now man and wife. Captain Steve Rodgers and Mrs Natasha 'Nate' Rodgers.

Cheers sounded—Thor's the loudest of them all—when Steve and Nate shared their first kiss as man and wife—Steve actually lifting Nate up and letting everyone see the old sneakers she had been wearing under her dress.

Tony wasn't crying, something flew in his eyes that was all. Pepper should have allowed him to wear his shades then it wouldn't have happened at all. The sight of the old and beaten sneakers that Tony had given Nattie when she was twenty and she had treasured since did not make him cry the slightest bit harder.

Judging by the grin of sympathy on Clint's face as he padded him on the back, Tony was fooling no one—not even himself.

"You're lucky." Tony told him making Clint look confused. "Natasha will never get married so you'll never have to give her away."

"True." Clint nodded looking relieved as he continued to pat Tony on the back.

* * *

Only their friends were at their wedding reception at the Tower—Thor had provided Asgard ale for the party.

Nate had changed from her wedding dress into a simple short royal blue dress—sneakers still firmly on her feet—and had dragged Steve to dance.

Both of them with flushed as they danced together surrounded by their friends and family.

"You know," Pepper said as she slipped next to Tony. "Something is wrong with Nate and Steve marrying before us."

"Are you hinting that you want me to ask you?" Tony asked as he slipped an arm around her waist.

"Maybe." Pepper smiled at him.

Of course if Tony was going to ask someone to marry him, he would do it in a way that captured attention.

He pulled her to the centre of the room, nudging Nate and Steve out of the way, before he fell to one knee in front of Pepper—Nate grinning widely at him from Steve's arms. Their friends quietened down as they watched.

"Pepper, honey, will you marry me?" Tony asked as he pulled the ring he had been carrying around for the last three months out of his pocket and showed her the diamond ring—the diamond was a lot bigger than the one Steve had given Nattie, Tony thought smugly.

"Yes!"

And cheers rang through the air once more.


End file.
